Alcoholic Drinks: Crime

Dominic Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the written ministerial statement by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport of 4 March 2008,  Official Report, columns 102-5WS, on tackling alcohol-related problems, when the summit of police and local authorities to discuss proposals to tackle alcohol-related problems was convened; and what the outcome of the discussion was.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 10 November 2008
	The Home Office and Department for Culture Media and Sports jointly held a summit with senior police officers and local authority Chief Executives on 5 June to discuss how the powers in the Licensing Act 2003 and other interventions can be used most effectively to control problem premises which sell alcohol. Following the successful summit, the Department for Culture Media and Sports has issued guidance on a range of innovative and tough conditions as well as on the introduction of the 'yellow card/red card' scheme to encourage earlier and stronger intervention to tackle problem premises. The Home Office has recently rolled out bespoke, regional workshops to help frontline practitioners to better understand and encourage them in the use of the general alcohol-related tools and powers and specifically Licensing Act 2003 offences.
	We will be augmenting these workshops with a comprehensive support package including updated tools and powers guidance, video training modules and reference materials.

Alcoholic Drinks: Crime

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the costs of alcohol-related crime in  (a) Ribble Valley,  (b) Lancashire and  (c) the UK since the implementation of the Licensing Act 2003.

Alan Campbell: The Home Office has estimated that in 2006-07 the cost of alcohol related crime in relation to England and Wales was £9-15 billion. We are not able to break down the figures to local authority area. This estimate is based on the crime figures from 2006-07, and the Home Office is not able to compare the costs before and after the Licensing Act 2003 came into force. The estimate was published in the impact assessment which accompanied the Department of Health's consultation on the next steps in the Alcohol Strategy. This can be found at:
	http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_086412.
	The 2008 Review of the Licensing Act found that since the new legislation came into effect, serious violent crime at night was down 5per cent. and less serious wounding at night was down 3 per cent.
	However, between October 2005 and September 2006 there was a small increase in offences reported between 3 am and 6 am (these represent only 4 per cent. of night-time offences).

Antisocial Behaviour Orders: West Midlands

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many breaches of anti-social behaviour orders have been recorded in  (a) Tamworth constituency,  (b) Staffordshire and  (c) the West Midlands in each year since the inception of such orders;
	(2)  how many breaches of anti-social behaviour orders have resulted in a criminal conviction in  (a) Tamworth constituency,  (b) Staffordshire and  (c) the West Midlands in each year since the inception of such orders.

Alan Campbell: Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) became available in April 1999. Information collected centrally on the number of breaches of ASBOs counts only those instances where the breach of the ASBO was proven in court.
	ASBO breach data are available for ASBOs issued between 1 June 2000 and 31 December 2006 (latest available) and are not compiled below Criminal Justice System (CJS) area level.
	The number of occasions in each year on which ASBOs were proven in court to have been breached in the Staffordshire and the west midlands CJS areas is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  N umber of occasions in the Staffordshire and west midlands CJS areas( 1)  in each year between 1 June 2000 and 31 December 2006 where persons were proven in court to have breached their ASBO 
			  Number 
			   Staffordshire  West midlands 
			 2000-02(2) 10 112 
			 2003 19 137 
			 2004 40 344 
			 2005 62 488 
			 2006 68 408 
			 1 June 2000 to  31 December 2006 199 1,489 
			 (1) ASBOs may be issued in one area and breached in another. Breaches are counted in this table by area of breach.  (2) From 1 June 2000.   Note:  Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.   Sources:  1. OCJR Court Proceedings Database.  2. Prepared by OCJR Evidence and Analysis Unit.

Antisocial Behaviour: Greater London

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to reduce alcohol misuse and anti-social behaviour in London, with specific reference to South West London.

Alan Campbell: The Home Office work in relation to tackling alcohol misuse is focused on areas prioritised on the basis of perceptions of drunk or rowdy behaviour and police-recorded crime statistics for less serious wounding. However, the Home Office is taking a number of steps to tackle alcohol misuse and ASB in London.
	For example, in relation to tackling alcohol misuse, we are rolling out bespoke media campaigns in seven priority areas. These 'Know Your Limits'-based local media campaigns will take place from December 2008 to March 2009. These campaigns will communicate the national responsible drinking 'Know Your Limits' messages using a tailored approach for each local area. The areas where this will take place are Stoke-On-Trent, Stevenage, Southampton, North East Lincs, Weymouth, Durham and Barking and Dagenham.
	Additionally, we are holding a series of two day bespoke regional practitioner training workshops (the first of which took place in London on 28 to 29 October) on the application of the Licensing act and practical enforcement of offences under it; and the use and enforcement of other alcohol-related tools and powers, including designated public places orders (DPPOs) and alcohol disorder zones (ADZs). The second event, in Cambridge, was held on the 18 to 19 November. These workshops will be accompanied by the publication of a comprehensive digital support package early in 2009.
	Also, in October 2007, four Home Office-funded alcohol arrest referral (AAR) projects began operating, one of which was in Ealing in south west London. Alcohol arrest referral schemes aim to reduce offending among people arrested for alcohol related offences by providing them with advice on the links between unsafe drinking levels and offending. It is hoped that if the AAR schemes, such as Ealing in south west London, demonstrate a reduction in the level of re-offending, local authorities will be persuaded, due to the savings to the CJS, to re-prioritise funding in order to pay for future provisions. A further nine pilots, funded by the Home Office started in November 2008; of which one, Islington, is in London.
	Further, five London boroughs are benefiting from the Tackling Violent Crime Programme: Barking and Dagenham, Westminster, Greenwich, Southwark and Newham. This funding is aimed at the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership's work in aiming to reduce alcohol related violent crime and domestic violence.
	In relation to antisocial behaviour, the Home Office have provided practitioners with a toolkit to tackle antisocial behaviour, which they operate according to local priorities as well as a practitioner website and advice line. In south west London, a multidisciplinary antisocial behaviour team operates many initiatives, based on prevention and enforcement that engage, educate and promote awareness among young people, engage with residents and tackle antisocial behaviour in families.
	Additionally, in autumn 2007, antisocial behaviour practitioners in London suggested that assistance in using ASB preventative tools and powers to combat alcohol-related disorder would be useful. Government Office for London was successful in drawing down £25,000 from the Home Office to fund a research project examining this very issue and a well-received guide—'What Works to Tackle Alcohol-related Disorder?: An Examination of the Use of ASB Tools and Powers in London'—was completed by London South Bank university earlier this year. The final report contains a number of observations and recommendations that will lead to real improvements in tackling alcohol related antisocial behaviour and disorder in London.

Asylum

Patrick Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many and what proportion of asylum seekers who were detained during 2007 were subsequently released on temporary admission and then rearrested and detained;
	(2)  how many and what proportion of asylum seekers detained during 2007 were released on temporary admission.

Phil Woolas: The information requested is not available.
	Following a change in the computer system in which information is collected; summary statistics on all persons recorded as leaving detention in the UK solely under Immigration Act powers by reason for leaving detention are not available after September 2006. Information for 2005 and January to September 2006 is available from the Library of the House and in Table 9.3 of each year's Asylum Statistics United Kingdom publication published each August
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb1407.pdf.

Departmental Computers

Dominic Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many documents there were on laptops stolen from her Department in each year since 2001.

Jacqui Smith: I am unable to answer this PQ as to do so would incur disproportionate costs.

Departmental Information Officers

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average cost to her Department was of employing a press and media officer in 2007-08.

Phil Woolas: Press and Media Officers in the Home Office are employed at the Senior Information Officer (SIO) and Information Officer (IO) grades. The following tables provide information on the salary scales for both grades (minimum to maximum) and the allowances payable for out of hours working.
	
		
			  Salary Scales 
			  £ 
			  Grade  Gross Pay (includes RRA)  ERNIC  Superannuation  Total 
			 SIO (Max scale) 44,829 5,738 7,397 57,964 
			 SIO (Min scale) 38,563 4,936 6,363 49,862 
			 IO (Max scale) 37,149 4,755 6,130 48,034 
			 IO (Min scale) 32,034 2,980 4,324 39,338 
		
	
	
		
			  Allowances 
			  £ 
			   Allowances  On c all (Radio Pager)  On c all (Home)  Stand by (Office) 
			 SIO and IO More than 12 hrs-weekdays 5.47 6.87 12.98 
			 SIO and IO Sat/Sunday full 24 hrs 15.62 19.53 37.24 
			 SIO and IO Public/Bank Holidays full 24 hrs 19.77 24.66 46.74

Departmental NDPBs

Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the remit is of each non-departmental public body sponsored by her Department; and what budget each has been set for  (a) 2008-09,  (b) 2009-10 and  (c) 2010-11.

Phil Woolas: Non-departmental public bodies for which the Home Office has lead responsibility are set out in the Department's 2007-08 Resource Accounts which can be found at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/resource-accounts-07-08
	Wider details on Home Office executive NDPBs are published through the annual public bodies exercise that is owned by Cabinet Office. The Home Office contribution to Public Bodies 2008 can be found at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/Public-bodies-2008
	Details of funding for 2008-09 can be found in the Home Office 2008-09 Main Estimate (HC 479) and on HM Treasury's website available at:
	www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/mainest08_11_ho.pdf
	Indicative figures for 2009-10 and 2010-11 can be found in Table 5.1 of the 2008 Departmental Report in Cm 7396 and on the Home Office website at:
	www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/ho-annual-report-08
	The advisory NDPBs sponsored by the Department incur little or no expenditure and are resourced from within the Department. As a result, information on budgets for 2008-11 is not available.

British Waterways: Public Relations

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what payments British Waterways  (a) has made in the last 12 months and  (b) is contracted to make to Cavendish Public Affairs; and for what purposes.

Huw Irranca-Davies: British Waterways has paid £58,309.28 + VAT to Cavendish Communications in the last 12 months. Future payments to Cavendish are dependent on levels of support required, and this is due for consideration by British Waterways in early 2009.
	Cavendish has provided a range of support services to British Waterways over the last 12 months including Select Committee preparation, parliamentary events management, and advising on building links with local authorities.

Departmental Contracts

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which organisations provided goods and services for his Department in relation to  (a) hospitality and entertainment,  (b) advertising and promotion,  (c) consultants,  (d) photography,  (e) media training,  (f) media monitoring,  (g) foreign language tuition,  (h) hotel accommodation,  (i) external legal advice,  (j) recruitment and  (k) public affairs in each of the last 10 years; and what the 10 most valuable contracts were in each case.

Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA came into being in June 2001. The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The departmental report, published annually, contains much helpful information on DEFRA's expenditure and I refer the hon. Member in particular to Chapter 9: Better Regulation and Corporate Services and Chapter 10: Defra's Delivery Partners, of the 2008 report. Copies of previous departmental reports are held in the Library of the House.

Christmas

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies have spent on Christmas (a) cards, (b) parties and (c) decorations in the last 12 months.

Maria Eagle: The first year that a Ministry of Justice Christmas card was produced was 2007 and 6,000 cards were ordered at a cost of 34p each, totalling £2,040. These cards were produced internally and were not centrally funded. Each business area covered the costs of the cards they ordered from their stationery budgets.
	The order for cards for 2008 has not yet commenced.
	I refer t he hon. Member to my answer of 27 October 2008,  Official Report, columns 742-43W, to the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr. Prisk), which provides information on the spend on Christmas functions in 2007-08.
	The cost of trees and decorations for the central London HQ buildings for 2007 is as follows:
	Trees—£460.40 + VAT
	Decorations—£325.90 + VAT
	An order has not yet been placed for 2008 and wherever possible, last year's decorations will be reused.
	The information for agencies can be gathered only at a disproportionate cost, as each individual building would order their own trees and decorations.

Prisoners: Mentally Ill

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent estimate he has made of the number of prisoners with severe psychiatric disorders.

Phil Hope: I have been asked to reply.
	No recent assessment has been made. In 1997, the Office of National Statistics survey indicated that as many as 58 per cent. of male and 75 per cent. of female remand prisoners, and 39 per cent. of male and 62 per cent. of female sentenced prisoners met criteria for a diagnosis of anxiety and/or depression. Rates of psychotic illness were also higher than in the general population.

Racial Harassment

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many complaints of racial abuse relating to staff for which his Department is responsible have been  (a) investigated and  (b) upheld in the last 12 months.

Michael Wills: In the Ministry of Justice there have been six complaints brought on the grounds of race in the 12 months ending July 2008. Of those, four cited actual racial abuse, and of those, two were upheld.
	For NOMS and OCJR, no complaints of racial abuse have been recorded.
	The Prison Service do not hold the information centrally in the format requested. This could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Rape: Sentencing

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average sentence handed down by courts in England and Wales for convictions for rape was in each of the last three years.

Maria Eagle: The requested information is contained in the following tables.
	2006 is the latest year for which annually published statistics are available. Data for 2007 will be published on 27 November.
	
		
			  Number of persons sentenced( 1)  by result and average length of immediate custodial sentence( 2)  for offences of rape, all courts, England and Wales, 2004-06 
			  Number of persons and average length of sentence (months) 
			 Result 
			  Offence description  Year  Total number sentenced  Absolute discharge  Conditional discharge  Fine  Community sentence  Fully suspended sentence  Immediate custody  Otherwise dealt with 
			 Rape(4)  742 2 2 — 16 — 713 9 
			 Rape of a female 2004 693 1 2 — 8 — 673 9 
			 Rape of a male  49 1 — — 8 — 40 — 
			   
			 Rape(4)  794 — 1 1 32 2 746 12 
			 Rape of a female 2005 726 — 1 1 21 2 690 11 
			 Rape of a male  68 — — — 11 — 56 1 
			   
			 Rape(4)  862 1 1 — 40 — 303 17 
			 Rape of a female 2006 787 1 1 — 25 — 746 14 
			 Rape of a male  75 — — — 15 — 57 3 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of persons and average length of sentence (months) 
			  Offence description  Average custodial sentence length( 2)  Indeterminate sentence( 3) 
			 Rape(4) 85.1 — 
			 Rape of a female 85.2 — 
			 Rape of a male 82.5 — 
			
			 Rape(4) 81.8 15 
			 Rape of a female 82.5 13 
			 Rape of a male 74.0 2 
			
			 Rape(4) 81.2 131 
			 Rape of a female 82.0 120 
			 Rape of a male 68.0 11 
			 (1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) Months. Excludes life and indeterminate sentences. (3) Sentences of imprisonment for public protection introduced by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 on 4 April 2005. (4) Includes rape of a male and a female.  Notes: 1. Persons receiving an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection for a serious offence would previously have received a lengthy determinate sentence that would have been included in the calculation of average custodial sentence length. These longer sentences are now effectively excluded from the calculation. This may account for the observed decrease in average custodial sentence lengths since 2004-05. 2. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.  Source: OMS Analytical Services

Young People: Remand in Custody

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what proportion of juveniles who have been remanded in custody or under court ordered secure remand pending trial were  (a) acquitted and  (b) received a non-custodial sentence upon conviction in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many  (a) remands in custody and  (b) court ordered secure remands were made in respect of those under 18 year old in (i) youth courts, (ii) adult magistrates courts and (iii) Crown courts in each of the last five years;
	(3)  what the average length of custodial remands for children tried in  (a) youth courts,  (b) adult magistrates courts and  (c) the Crown court is; and what the average was in each case in each of the last five years;
	(4)  how many juveniles were  (a) detained by the police overnight,  (b) placed in local authority accommodation and  (c) bailed pending a first court appearance in each of the last five years;
	(5)  what proportion of juveniles charged with an offence were remanded in custody in the latest period for which figures are available, broken down by offence.

Maria Eagle: With regards to the proportion of juveniles who have been remanded in custody or under court ordered secure remand pending trial and the proportion of juveniles charged with an offence were remanded in custody broken down by offence, I will write to the hon. Member within two weeks when it is anticipated that the data to address those juveniles who have been acquitted and received a non-custodial sentence upon conviction will be available.
	These data are not routinely collated and require five years of data from large administrative datasets to be analysed which is a resource intensive and time-consuming process. It is planned to review the remands data collection during 2009.
	The information to answer the remainder of the questions is not readily available and would require individual court files to be examined which could be carried out only at disproportionate cost.

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects the Northern Ireland Assembly will take on responsibility for the criminal law in Northern Ireland, with particular reference to abortion; what recent discussions he has had on the issue; what recent representations he has received on the issue; what response he gave; and if he will make a statement.

Shaun Woodward: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement I made on 19 November 2008,  Official Report, column 23WS.
	I have received a number of representations from interested parties on all sides of the debate on the abortion law in Northern Ireland. The Government's position remain that the best forum for discussion of these matters is the Northern Ireland Assembly when it assumes responsibility for the criminal law. While the precise timing of the devolution of policing and justice is a matter for the Assembly, an agreed process is under way that will end in the transfer of policing and justice powers, including responsibility for the criminal law relating to abortion.

Departmental Buildings

Francis Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend, East of 6 October 2008,  Official Report, columns 85-86W, on departmental buildings, what the cost of each refurbishment was.

Paul Goggins: The information provided in the answer of 6 October related solely to offices that were newly opened and requiring fit out works before occupation. None of these premises required refurbishment.

Departmental Hospitality

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department has spent on  (a) hosting events and  (b) bottled water in the last 12 months.

Shaun Woodward: The amount spent by the Northern Ireland Office, excluding its Agencies and Executive NDPBs, on hosting events in 2007-08 was £318,176.
	The amount spent on bottled water which includes water provided for water coolers for the 2007-08 financial year was £25,777. The NIO has recently reviewed its drinking water policy and decided that where staff have access to tap water which is of drinking water quality, bottled water should no longer be purchased.

Departmental Internet

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many page hits from and visitors his departmental website received for the 2007-08 financial year.

Shaun Woodward: During the financial year 2007-08, my Departmental website (nio.gov.uk) had 263,214 visitors and 11,356,942 page hits.

Inquiries: Expenditure

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost has been of  (a) each public inquiry under way and  (b) each historic enquiries team investigation under way in Northern Ireland.

Shaun Woodward: The costs to the end of October 2008 for each public inquiry under way in Northern Ireland are as follows:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 Robert Hamill Inquiry 18.20 
			 Rosemary Nelson Inquiry 33 42 
			 Billy Wright Inquiry 20.21 
			 Bloody Sunday Inquiry 184.9 
		
	
	I cannot provide the cost of each HET investigation under way. I can confirm that the annual expenditure on HET investigations has been as follows:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 2005-06 4.33 
			 2006-07 6.04 
			 2007-08 7.33 
			 2008-09 (1)5.12 
			 (1) To the end of October 2008.

Inquiries: Expenditure

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the cost of each  (a) public inquiry, apart from the Saville Inquiry, and  (b) historic enquires team investigation under way in Northern Ireland has been in each of the last six months.

Shaun Woodward: The costs for each of the last six months for the inquiries, apart from the Saville Inquiry, and the HET are shown in the following tables.
	
		
			  Independent public inquiries 
			  £000 
			  2008  Robert Hamill Inquiry  Rosemary Nelson Inquiry  Billy Wright Inquiry  Total 
			 May 703 2,368 1,303 4,374 
			 June 540 1,125 776 2,441 
			 July 688 1,271 845 2,804 
			 August 495 858 770 2,123 
			 September 248 1,054 265 1,567 
			 October 615 1,722 810 3,147 
			 Total 3,707 8,734 4,546 16,987 
		
	
	
		
			  The Historical Enquiries Team 
			  £000 
			  2008  PSNI HET spend  FSNI HET spend  OPONI HET spend  Total 
			 April 657 62 70 789 
			 May 540 28 70 638 
			 June 605 35 75 715 
			 July 924 34 70 1,028 
			 August 284 33 77 394 
			 September 726 21 79 826 
			 October 617 33 79 729 
			 Total 4,353 246 520 5,119 
			  Note:  Figures are available only to the end of September 2008.

Television

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department has spent on  (a) televisions and  (b) receiving digital television in the last 12 months.

Shaun Woodward: The Northern Ireland Office, excluding its Agencies and Executive NDPBs, spent £2,415 on televisions in the 2007-08 financial year.
	A total of £7,418 was paid to companies who provide digital television services during the 2007-08 financial year. This total includes licensing, subscription and instalment costs.

Afghanistan: Armed Forces

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what resources the Government has provided for the training of local militias in Afghanistan.

John Hutton: The UK Government are not involved in the training of local militias in Afghanistan. We do however provide personnel (both military and civilian) and funding to train and mentor the Afghan National Security Forces.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how UK armed forces plan to contribute to NATO's anti-narcotics strategy in Helmand province.

John Hutton: UK forces in Afghanistan, as part of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force mission, will support Afghan National Security Forces in targeting those parts of the illegal narcotics trade with a proven link to the insurgency. This support will continue to be provided in response to direct requests from the Government of Afghanistan and within existing means and capabilities.

Africa: Piracy

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department is taking to counteract piracy off the coast of Africa.

Bob Ainsworth: The Government's stance on piracy has been reviewed. This has resulted in a move to a more proactive posture whereby Royal Navy units in the region will actively seek out pirates, and we have issued them with more robust guidance to deal with any pirates encountered. The Royal Navy contributes to counter-piracy operations through three international efforts:
	The UK is already engaged in efforts to combat acts of piracy off Somalia, through the Combined Task Force (CTF) 150, which has established a Maritime Security Patrol Area in the Gulf of Aden. CTF 150 units in this area, including Royal Navy vessels, are actively conducting operations to counter de-stabilising activities primarily aimed at deterring and disrupting acts of piracy.
	Standing NATO Maritime Group 2, including attached Royal Navy units, has also deployed to the region with a mandate which includes counter-piracy. Last week HMS Cumberland, currently deployed with NATO, deterred several suspected pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the Royal Navy subsequently captured and handed over eight suspected pirates to Kenyan authorities.
	We have also supported EU planning for a counter-piracy naval operation off the coast of Somalia, and on 14 October the EU Political and Security Committee decided to accept the offer made by the UK to provide the operation commander and the operation HQ (the Multinational Headquarters at Northwood). On 10 November EU Foreign and Defence Ministers met at the General Affairs and External Relations Council and agreed the joint action to set up the EU mission. A further joint action to launch the mission is expected in early December. The UK offer is subject to sufficient forces being generated for an operation likely to begin in December.

Armed Forces: Health Services

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with Help for Heroes on funding for rehabilitation for military casualties from  (a) Iraq and  (b) Afghanistan.

Kevan Jones: The Secretary of State and I have had several recent meetings and discussions with the chief executive of Help for Heroes about the range and quality of rehabilitation support available to our military casualties.
	We continue to invest in facilities and staff at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Headley Court, as well as the Regional Rehabilitation Units, to ensure that the treatment provided to military personnel is second to none. When Help for Heroes was established last year, it announced that it intended to raise the necessary funds for a swimming pool at Headley Court. While the unit already has a hydrotherapy pool and several gyms, and the new pool will be welcome enhancement to the excellent facilities that the unit already has. Furthermore, the campaign to raise funds has offered another very real opportunity for the public to demonstrate support for our armed forces. For these reasons we warmly welcome the efforts of Help for Heroes and of the other charities that do so much in support of our servicemen and women.
	We are now working closely with Help for Heroes on a project to build a new rehabilitation complex at the unit, including a pool and gym. Ministerial discussions with the charity have covered that project and related issues.

Armed Forces: Suicide

Joan Humble: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many episodes of  (a) suicide,  (b) attempted suicide and  (c) self-harm have been recorded and subject to significant event analysis in primary care since the circulation of Policy Letter 62/03 by the Director General of Army Medical Services, broken down by episodes recorded (i) in the UK, (ii) in Iraq, (iii) in Afghanistan and (iv) elsewhere overseas.

Bob Ainsworth: Since 2003 there have been 36 coroner-confirmed suicides in the regular Army. Of these, 26 occurred in the United Kingdom, three in Iraq, one in Afghanistan and six in other overseas locations.
	Between 2003 and 2005 (the latest data compiled), during which time there was on average 111,000 serving in the Army, there have been 626 cases of deliberate self-harm by Army personnel investigated by the Royal Military Police. Of the 626 cases investigated, 426 occurred within the UK, 12 were in Iraq, two were in Afghanistan and 186 occurred in other overseas locations. The information held does not include any clinical information, thus it is not possible to differentiate between acts of deliberate self harm and attempted suicide.
	The MOD plans to update the data it holds on deliberate self-harm in the first part of 2009 to include data for 2006 and 2007.

Armed Forces: Training

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the wastage rates from  (a) phase one and  (b) phase two training were in (i) each year since 2001 and (ii) each month since January 2008; and how many people left each category of training in each period.

Kevan Jones: The information is as follows:
	 Wastage rates during new entry (phase 1 and 2) training
	The following table details the outflow from the untrained strength to civilian life for each financial year:
	
		
			   Number 
			 FY 2001-02 6,780 
			 FY 2002-03 7,250 
			 FY 2003-04 6,940 
			 FY 2004-05 5,830 
			 FY 2005-06 5,120 
			 FY 2006-07 (1)6,290 
			 FY 2007-08 (1)6,850 
			 (1) Provisional 
		
	
	The following table details the outflow from the untrained strength to civilian life for each month:
	
		
			   Number 
			 January 2008 (1)400 
			 February 2008 (1)530 
			 March 2008 (1)620 
			 April 2008 (1)600 
			 May 2008 (1)540 
			 June 2008 (1)610 
			 July 2008 (1)500 
			 August 2008 (1)560 
			 September 2008 (1)360 
			 (1) Provisional 
		
	
	For numerous reasons, including instances where there is no distinction between the types of training, it is not possible to specify the separate outflow from phase 1 and phase 2 training.
	The wastage rates are constantly under review and a number of initiatives are under consideration, to lower these rates without comprising the quality of outcome. Initiatives include ways to better prepare potential recruits for selection and initial training, and increasing applicants understanding of the military's expectations of trainees, and the unique aspects of a service life.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the technical specifications and photographs of the Alvis/Vickers Scarab vehicle as evaluated by his Department in the assessment phase of the future command and liaison vehicle competition.

Quentin Davies: The Alvis Vickers Scarab was a contender vehicle for the Future Command and Liaison Vehicle (FCLV), now known as PANTHER. Scarab was withdrawn from the procurement competition by Alvis Vickers and consequently the MOD does not hold technical specifications or photographs resulting from its evaluation.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  if he will place in the Library a copy of the technical specifications and photographs of the Glover Webb armoured patrol vehicle;
	(2)  how many Glover Webb armoured patrol vehicles were initially purchased; when they were purchased; when they were sold; and to whom they were sold.

Quentin Davies: The Glover Webb Armoured Patrol Vehicle (APV Mk 1) went out of service prior to the introduction of Snatch 1 in 1992. The requested information has not been retained by the Department due to the time elapsed since the APV Mk 1 left service.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many equipment failure reports there have been for Snatch Land Rovers in each year since 2005.

Quentin Davies: There has been a total of 758 equipment failure reports (EFRs) submitted on Snatch Land Rovers since 2005 as follows:
	
		
			   Number of EFRs 
			 2005 297 
			 2006 382 
			 2007 62 
			 2008(1) 17 
			 Total 758 
			 (1) To 18 November. 
		
	
	The equipment failure reporting system (EFRS) is the mandated system for equipment users to report failures, such as accidental damage, maintenance related failures and breakdowns, or the failure of an item fitted to the vehicle. It does not incorporate the results of subsequent investigations and therefore does not differentiate between what might later prove to have been a problem caused by operator error or damage sustained as a result of operations. Nor does this data record the severity of a failure which might have no discernible impact on operational capability or safety.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what effect the procurement of new utility vehicles announced on 29 October 2008 will have on the Future Rapid Effects System programme.

John Hutton: The announcement on 29 October 2008 of our plans to provide additional protected vehicles for Afghanistan will have no effect on the requirement for the Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) programme. The protected vehicles are specifically procured for use on current operations, in particular in logistics and other supporting roles. FRES is intended to replace legacy armoured fighting vehicles and to meet the Army's wider requirements for medium weight capability able to operate across the whole spectrum of operations.

Army: Deployment

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what percentage of the Army failed to meet  (a) harmony guidelines for tour intervals and  (b) separated service guidelines in the latest period for which figures are available, broken down by corps;
	(2)  what the average tour interval was for each army corps in the latest period for which figures are available.

Bob Ainsworth: The percentage of Army units (within those Corps for which we record Tour Interval information) failing to meet Harmony Guidelines, as at 20 November 2008, is 46 per cent. The breakdown is as follows:
	
		
			  Corps  Percentage breaching harmony guidelines 
			 Royal Artillery 55 
			 Royal Armoured Corps 22 
			 Infantry 50 
		
	
	The percentage of Army personnel failing to meet Separated Service guidelines, as at 31 December 2006, is 10.3 per cent. This is the most recent data available. It is hoped that Separate Service data will in future be produced by the Joint Personnel Administration system.
	The average Tour Intervals for each Army Corps (for which we record tour interval information), as at 20 November 2008, is as follows:
	
		
			  Corps  Average tour interval (months) 
			 Royal Artillery 25 
			 Royal Armoured Corps (1)25 
			 Infantry (2)23 
			 (1) Excludes two Royal Tank Regiment (2RTR) as they have not deployed as a formed unit since 2003. (2) Excludes one and two LANCS due to their amalgamation  (1 KORBR, 1 KINGS and QLR) in 2006. 
		
	
	The Unit Tour Interval is a less relevant measure when applied to other Corps (such as the Royal Engineers and the Royal Corps of Signals). This is due to the frequency with which personnel move between formed units within these Corps (the personnel deployed with a unit will be substantially different from the personnel deployed with the same unit on a previous occasion). Unit tour interval data for these Corps is not, therefore, routinely collated.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Peacekeeping Operations

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which United Kingdom military airframes  (a) have been used and  (b) are planned to be used in connection with operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Ainsworth: holding answer 18 November 2008
	There have been no UK military aircraft used in connection with operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the recent increases in violence began in the east. At present, MOD has no plans to perform any operations related to the current surge in violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo; we are therefore not planning on using any United Kingdom military airframes of any type in the country.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Peacekeeping Operations

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what countries have contributed to the UN force in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and how many troops each has provided.

Bob Ainsworth: The information requested is available at:
	http://www.monuc.org
	and is updated on a regular basis.

Future Large Aircraft

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what financial penalty clauses apply to his Department should it decide to  (a) reduce orders under and  (b) withdraw from the A400M Programme.

Quentin Davies: The A400M development and production contract, placed by OCCAR on behalf of the partner nations, contains provisions which allow nations to reduce aircraft numbers and provide suitable compensation for Airbus Military. The costs will vary depending on the timing of any reduction.
	The contract contains provisions which allow nations to withdraw from the programme. Again, the cost of compensation will vary depending on the timing of the withdrawal.
	Notwithstanding the contractual aspects, under the terms of A400M development and production Memorandum of Understanding, all nations collaborating on the programme are obliged to hold their partners harmless from any associated impact resulting from a reduction in off-take or withdrawal from the programme.

Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 17 November 2008,  Official Report, column 147W, on Iraq: peacekeeping operations, how many Jaish-al-Mahdi prisoners have been released as a result of these discussions;
	(2)  pursuant to the answer of 4 November 2008,  Official Report, column 304W, on Iraq: peacekeeping operations, whether the discussions with representatives of Jaish-al-Mahdi included discussions on the withdrawal of the British Army to Basra airport.

John Hutton: Decisions on the disposition, role and number of UK forces in Iraq are taken by the UK Government, based on advice from military commanders on the ground and in conjunction with our coalition partners and the government of Iraq.
	With the full knowledge and support of both our coalition partners and the Iraqi government, discussions with senior figures in Jaish al-Mahdi in Basra commenced in the summer of 2007 and continued until the end of that year. Over that period, .88 individuals were released from the divisional internment facility. For each of these individuals, the decision to release was taken by the Divisional Internment Review Committee on the basis that these individuals no longer represented an imperative threat to security.

Military Aircraft

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what percentage of  (a) Merlin HM MK1 and  (b) Nimrod MR2 are (i) in service, (ii) in the forward fleet and (iii) fit for purpose.

Quentin Davies: The information requested for Merlin Mk1 and Nimrod MR2 aircraft that are in service, in the forward fleet and considered fit for purpose (FFP) is provided in the following table. 'In service' has been taken to mean the effective fleet which covers all aircraft barring those which are redundant, declared as surplus or awaiting disposal. Aircraft in the forward fleet are those that are available to the front line command for operational and training purposes, including those that are classed as 'short term unserviceable'. Aircraft defined as fit for purpose are those considered capable of carrying out their planned missions on a given date: these statistics are taken daily and reported as monthly averages.
	
		
			   Merlin HM Mk1( 1)  Nimrod MR2( 2) 
			 Effective fleet 42 15 
			 Forward fleet 21 9 
			 Fit for purpose (FFP) 12 5 
			 Forward fleet as a percentage of effective fleet 50 60 
			 FFP as a percentage of forward fleet 57 55 
			 (1 )Data as of 31 October 2008. (2 )Data as of 14 November 2008.

Military Aircraft

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the merits of extending the life of the C-130K fleet;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the merits of purchasing one or more additional C-17s;
	(3)  what his latest estimate is of the in-service date of the A400M aircraft.

Quentin Davies: It is planned that the Hercules C-130K fleet, the out of service date of which remains 2012, will be replaced by the A400M, that has a planned in service date of 2011. However, following the recent announcement of delays by Airbus Military in the A400M programme, we are considering a number of options as a contingency to mitigate any potential capability gaps that may arise. Options we are considering include an extension to the life of the C-130K fleet and leasing or procurement of additional C-17 capacity. We are monitoring the situation closely and are pressing Airbus Military for further information so we can make a detailed assessment of the impact on A400M production deliveries and the planned in-service date.

Military Bases: Helicopters

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the levels of noise pollution from helicopters in the areas around  (a) RAF Benson and  (b) RAF Odiham.

Bob Ainsworth: Initial environmental baseline studies have been completed which includes estimates of the existing noise climates (computer modelling) at all the sites being considered by programme Belvedere (a programme to rationalise the battlefield helicopter estate of Joint Helicopter Command). The programme includes RAF Odiham and RAF Benson.
	An assessment of the potential changes in noise levels at existing and potential helicopter bases is being initiated by the project team. Their assessment will, in turn, closely inform the evaluation of the options.

Nuclear Weapons

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether any of the UK's nuclear bombs exploded during  (a) the major trials of the 1950s and 1960s in Australia and the Pacific Island Oceans and  (b) the minor tests code-named Kittens, Tims, Rats and Vixen conducted at Maralinga, contained beryllium.

Kevan Jones: Beryllium was employed in major weapon design trials undertaken in Australia and the Pacific Islands in the 1950s. The UK did not carry out any major trials in the 1960s.
	Beryllium was also used in minor trials in the 1950s and 1960s, including some in the four series referred to. It has not proved possible in the time available to determine which individual tests in these four series did involve Beryllium.

Tornado Aircraft

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Tornado GR4 aircraft are available; how many were available in  (a) October 2007 and  (b) in each month of 2008 to date; and how many aircraft were unserviceable at the latest date for which figures are available.

Quentin Davies: The numbers of Tornado GR4 aircraft in the forward available fleet (FAF) for the months of October 2007 and January to October 2008 are detailed in the following table. FAF aircraft are those that are available to the front-line command for operational and training purposes; aircraft undergoing scheduled depth maintenance, or planned routine fleet maintenance are not included.
	
		
			   Average number of Tornado GR4 in forward fleet 
			  2007  
			 October 106 
			  2008  
			 January 106 
			 February 106 
			 March 106 
			 April 106 
			 May 106 
			 June 106 
			 July 106 
			 August 106 
			 September 105 
			 October 102 
		
	
	In October 2008 an average of 18 Tornado GR4 aircraft were not fit for purpose (FFP). Aircraft defined as not FFP are those considered not to be capable of carrying out their planned missions on a given date; this includes aircraft undergoing short-term forward maintenance and other minor works.
	The figures shown are the average for each of the given months, and have been rounded to the nearest whole number. The figures do not reflect the fact that an aircraft assessed as not FFP may be returned to the front line at very short notice to meet the operational need.

Olympic Games 2012: Ministry of Defence

Humfrey Malins: To ask the Minister for the Olympics whether the terms of reference set for KPMG in relation to its report on venue options for the 2012 Olympics included an instruction to hold discussions with the Ministry of Defence.

Tessa Jowell: holding answer 20 November 2008
	KPMG was instructed to assist in the evaluation of the options analysis including for the use of the Royal Artillery Barracks at Woolwich as the venue for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games Shooting competitions. As announced following the Olympic Board on 19 November, the KPMG report will be published but it will be necessary to ensure it does not contain commercially sensitive material.

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what responsibility strategic health authorities have to manage the performance of primary care trust services commissioning in order to reduce harm from alcohol.

Dawn Primarolo: The Department's operating framework for 2008-11 describes the business processes required throughout the system to support delivery against national and local priorities, ensure local accountability and drive transformation for the benefit of patients. As part of the operating framework, the Department put in place a new vital signs indicator for the national health service from April 2008 that will measure change in the rate of alcohol related hospital admissions.
	Primary care trusts (PCTs) need to choose, in consultation with local partners, which Tier 3 indicators to prioritise locally. 99 PCTs have chosen alcohol as a Tier 3 indicator. Assurance of this process must take place at local level, between the strategic health authority (SHA) and PCT.
	Where a PCT identifies reducing the rate of alcohol related hospital admissions as a local priority, they will set annual plans to be jointly signed off by SHAs and in the case of any agreed local area agreement (LAA) priority, by the regional Government Office (GO). The Department's teams in each GO will work with the SHA to ensure this process is managed effectively in each region.
	The intention is that performance against all vital signs indicators will be published annually. This will allow a local population to understand how well or poorly their local PCT is performing across a range of commissioner responsibilities and will be part of local conversation between PCTs and their populations, PCTs will therefore want to track progress against all the vital signs indicators.

Christmas

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies have spent on Christmas (a) cards, (b) parties and (c) decorations in the last 12 months.

Ben Bradshaw: The amount the Department spent on purchasing Christmas cards for 2007 (inclusive of VAT) was £4,478.27. This does not include postage costs which are not available due to some cards being included with other correspondence or being hand delivered.
	All expenditure incurred in the purchase and postage of Christmas cards is made in accordance with the Department's guidance on financial and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting.
	In respect of the cost of Christmas parties in the last 12 months, I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave on 22 October 2008,  Official Report, column 367W, to the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr. Prisk).
	In December 2007, the Department spent £2,755.65 on Christmas trees and decorations. This year's Christmas trees and decorations, paid for in October 2008, cost £2,966.68. These figures are inclusive of VAT.
	Information on what agencies spend on these items is not held centrally.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the effect on NHS costs of achieving full compliance by primary care trusts with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence appraisal TA97 on computerised cognitive behavioural therapy for depression and anxiety;
	(2)  what discussions officials from his Department have had with the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency on establishing a national contract for the purchase of treatments for the depression treatment Beating the Blues; and what estimate his Department has made of the potential change in cost to the NHS of this method of purchase compared with individual primary care trust commissioning.

Phil Hope: Departmental officials have recently met with the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency, who are currently reviewing the National Framework Agreement which assists primary care trusts in their local commissioning decisions about purchasing licences for beating the blues. As these decisions are taken locally the Department does not determine the cost and volume of licences to be provided. In these circumstances, no national estimate can be made.
	However, there will be significant cost savings to the national health service by implementing Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services by reducing pressure on specialist psychology services in mental health trusts and reducing inappropriate referrals made to acute hospital trusts for people with medically unexplained symptoms.
	We also expect to see savings to the economy as a whole by these new services making a contribution to helping people with these conditions retain or return to employment, thus reducing the burden on the Exchequer for the cost of statutory sick pay and incapacity benefit.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many treatments of  (a) Beating the Blues and  (b) Fear Fighter primary care trusts have commissioned through the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency using the National Framework Agreement; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: Since the introduction of National Framework Agreement in 2007, 55 primary care trusts have commissioned licences for 30,458 treatments for Beating the Blues.
	Due to the different pricing structure, it is not possible to provide the number of commissioned treatments for Fear Fighter. The licenses sold under this arrangement are unlimited per primary care trust and are based on head of population. The product has currently been taken up by 38 primary care trusts providing the availability to the local population depending on need.

Dementia

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people with  (a) Alzheimer's disease and  (b) other forms of dementia in each (i) strategic health authority area and (ii) primary care trust area.

Phil Hope: The Department does not collect this information. However, the Dementia UK report, published in 2007 by the Alzheimer's Society, estimated that there were 683,997 people in the United Kingdom with dementia. The report also estimated that approximately 62 per cent. of people with dementia have Alzheimer's Disease and that those with vascular dementia and mixed dementia account for 27 per cent.

Departmental Land

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much surplus land  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies own; and what the (i) area and (ii) estimated monetary value of each site is.

Ben Bradshaw: The Department owns approximately 80 hectares of land and buildings that has been identified as currently surplus to requirements. A disposal strategy is in place for each. The following is a list of the more substantial properties with their estimated land area. Their estimated value is commercially confidential. The NHS Purchasing and Supplies Agency and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency do not have any surplus land.
	The information relating to the Department is in the following table:
	
		
			  Property  Estimated area (hectares) 
			 Laverneo, Grindon, Sunderland 0.05 
			 50 Scattergate Green, Appleby 0.05 
			 Eagle Cottages, Jarrow 0.05 
			 Land at Morton Banks, Keighley 2.42 
			 Northern View, Bradford 2.89 
			 White Hart, Harrogate 0.33 
			 Warwick Cottage, Melton Mowbray 0.10 
			 Land at Victoria Hospital, Worksop 0.44 
			 Lakeview Close, Walsall 1.51 
			 Land at Crone Hills, West Bromwich 0.05 
			 Land at Wellington Hospital, Telford 0.10 
			 Land at Gloucester Fields, St. Albans 0.49 
			 Part Harperbury Hospital, Radlett 36.8 
			 Land at Harps Close, Sudbury 1.30 
			 Land at Harwich Hospital, Harwich 0.76 
			 Part Little Plumstead Hospital, Norwich 12.60 
			 Former Hinchingbroke Health Centre, Huntingdon 0.72 
			 Rope Walk House, St. Neots 0.05 
			 Land at Napsbury, St. Albans 9.08 
			 St. James' Court, Balham 0.24 
			 Dog Kennel Wood, Maidstone 2.15 
			 Garratt Lane, Wandsworth 0.05 
			 10 Palmer Crescent, Ottershaw 0.05 
			 22-38 Princes Road, Redhill 0.17 
			 Blackbrook House, Fareham 1.24 
			 63/65 Bardsley Drive, Fareham 0.05 
			 Oaklands, Plymouth 0.05 
			 Farm Lane House, Plymouth 0.05 
			 Halcyon House, Plymouth 0.05 
			 Woodside Car Park, Plymouth 0.11 
			 332 High Road, Tottenham 0.05 
			 Land at St. Georges Hospital, Hornchurch 3.10

Drugs: Rehabilitation

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment his Department has made of the use of the anti-opiate drug buprenorphine/naloxone; whether any assessments has been undertaken of buprenorphine/naloxone where the comparator was buprenorphine alone; and what benefits were detected;
	(2)  what assessment the NHS has made of whether buprenorphine/naloxone is regarded as having any advantages over buprenorphine alone in helping patients recover from the physical and behavioural aspects of opioid dependence; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) provides independent guidance on public health, health technologies and clinical practice, including the use of drugs by the national health service.
	In January 2007 NICE published the 'Technology Appraisal' "Methadone and buprenorphine for managing opioid dependence", which recommended the use of both methadone and buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid dependence. However, this appraisal did not consider Suboxone, a newer product which combines buprenorphine and naloxone.
	In 2007, the independent expert group commissioned to develop the United Kingdom clinical guidelines on the management of substance misuse considered the available research evidence on prescribing of Suboxone and the limited clinical experience in the UK. Their considered advice is included in the four UK health department's publication, "Drug misuse and dependence: UK guidelines on clinical management", published in September 2007 (a copy of which has already been placed in the Library), and can be found at:
	http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Healthimprovement/Substancemisuse/Substancemisusegeneralinformation/DH_4064342
	As with all new medicines, Suboxone's exact place in treatment is still being established, although the Department's clarification of August 2007 that Suboxone can be dispensed using existing instalment dispensing arrangements, may have removed a possible barrier to the availability of Suboxone.
	Both Suboxone and buprenorphine are available on the national health service. The decision to use either drug is a clinical one, taken following consultation with the patient about their clinical needs and priorities.

Health Education

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health trainers there are in each primary care trust (PCT); and how many people have been helped by health trainers in each PCT in the last 12 months.

Ann Keen: Figures are not available centrally in the precise form requested.
	In April 2008 there were 3,657 health trainers (individuals not whole time equivalents) employed, funded, or supported by the national health service in primary care trust (PCT) areas.
	Data on the number of clients seen by health trainers are not available centrally for all PCTs on a consistent or comprehensive basis.
	The following table shows the distribution of health trainers between PCTs.
	
		
			  Numbers of health trainers in England by primary care trust in April 2008 
			   Number 
			 Ashton, Leigh and Wigan 78 
			 Barking and Dagenham 94 
			 Barnsley Primary Care Trust 11 
			 Bath and North East Somerset Health Trainer Service 8 
			 Bedfordshire 15 
			 Berkshire West 6 
			 Bexley HT project 65 
			 Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust 13 
			 Blackpool 74 
			 Blackpool with Darwen 29 
			 Bolton 58 
			 Bradford District Health Trainer Service 84 
			 Brent HT programme 126 
			 Bridlington Health Trainers 17 
			 Brighton and Hove 48 
			 Bristol Health Trainers 23 
			 Buckinghamshire 0 
			 Bury 66 
			 Calderdale Community Health Trainers 12 
			 Camden 13 
			 Central and Eastern Cheshire 0 
			 Central Lancashire PCT HT Service 11 
			 Change of Heart—Nottingham City PCT 59 
			 Connect 4 life, Tameside and Glossop PCT 18 
			 Cornwall Health Trainer Service 28 
			 County Durham PCT Health Trainer Service 94 
			 Coventry PCT 20 
			 Cumbria 49 
			 Derby City 0 
			 Derby County 117 
			 Devon 40 
			 Doncaster PCT 32 
			 Dudley Health Trainer service 0 
			 Ealing 30 
			 East and Coastal Kent 121 
			 East Lancashire 129 
			 East Sussex Downs and Weald 0 
			 Enfield 14 
			 Gateshead HT Partnership 50 
			 Gloucestershire PCT 0 
			 Great Yarmouth 10 
			 Greenwich teaching PCT 140 
			 Halton—Reach for the Stars Health Trainer Service 26 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 8 
			 Hampshire PCT 16 
			 Hartlepool Health Trainer Service 8 
			 Hastings HT service 12 
			 Havering 0 
			 Health Lifestyle coaching—Reading 9 
			 Health Trainer Service—Worcestershire PCT 9 
			 Heart of Birmingham 27 
			 Herefordshire Primary Care Trust: Health Trainer Service 0 
			 HIV Health Support 4 
			 Hounslow 80 
			 HT North Tyneside 32 
			 Hull Health Trainer Service 32 
			 Isle of Wight HT service 39 
			 Islington 12 
			 Knowsley 21 
			 Lambeth PCT HT 36 
			 Leeds NHS Health Trainers 39 
			 Leicester City 8 
			 Leicester county and Rutland 9 
			 Lewisham HT Scheme 1 
			 Lincolnshire 31 
			 Liverpool 44 
			 Luton 0 
			 Manchester 40 
			 Medway 0 
			 Mid Essex 11 
			 Middlesbrough PCT and Redcar and Cleveland PCT 21 
			 Milton Keynes 0 
			 Newcastle Community HT 37 
			 Norfolk 64 
			 North East Essex 0 
			 North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus (CTP) 197 
			 North Kirklees Health Trainers/Huddersfield Health Trainers 19 
			 North Lancaster 0 
			 North Lincolnshire PCT 30 
			 North Somerset PCT, Health Trainer service 4 
			 North Staffs PCT 0 
			 North Tees 26 
			 North Yorkshire and York PCT 37 
			 Northamptonshire 40 
			 Northumberland 49 
			 Nottinghamshire County and Bassetlaw 21 
			 Oxfordshire 10 
			 Peterborough 43 
			 Portsmouth HT 24 
			 Rochdale Boroughwide HT service 25 
			 Rotherham NHS Health Trainers 61 
			 Salford Community Health Trainers 20 
			 Sandwell PCT 29 
			 Sefton 60 
			 Sheffield PCT 0 
			 Solihull Care Trust 1 
			 Somerset PCT 7 
			 South Birmingham PCT Health Trainer Service 0 
			 South East Essex 0 
			 South Staffs PCT 38 
			 South Tyneside 12 
			 South West Essex 0 
			 Southampton City PCT HT Service 50 
			 Southwark 56 
			 St. Helens—Choices Health Trainers 51 
			 Steps to Health—HT programme, Oldham Community Health Services 30 
			 Stockport 11 
			 Stoke on Trent Lifestyle Support Programme 0 
			 Suffolk 2 
			 Sunderland HT Service 38 
			 Surrey 8 
			 Telford Wrekin Primary Care Trust 4 
			 The Swindon Health Ambassador Scheme 0 
			 Torbay 6 
			 Tower Hamlets HT Pilot Programme 27 
			 Wakefield District Primary Care Trust 67 
			 Walsall Health Trainer Service 15 
			 Warwickshire 15 
			 West Essex (Epping Forest) 3 
			 West Kent 0 
			 West Sussex 3 
			 Western Cheshire 7 
			 Westminster HT programme 29 
			 Wiltshire PCT 4 
			 Wirral PCT Health Trainer Programme 0 
			 Wolverhampton 0 
			 Total 3,657 
			  Notes: These data are based on returns from the National Implementation Team provided in order to track progress and not central returns to the Department. Number of health trainers: 1. Presently health trainers are not included in the NHS workforce survey. 2. The numbers of health trainers are people but not whole time equivalents. 3. They are not necessarily employed by the NHS. 4. They are not necessarily funded wholly by the NHS.

Health Services: Foreigners

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much was spent on providing assistance with healthcare costs to  (a) foreign nationals and  (b) higher education students through the HC2 form in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many  (a) foreign nationals and  (b) higher education students (i) applied for and (ii) received assistance with healthcare costs in each of the last five years.

Dawn Primarolo: This information is not collected centrally.

Health Services: Parliamentary Questions

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for which statistics relating to  (a) hospitals,  (b) maternity units and  (c) other health services in England, about which information has been sought by means of Parliamentary Questions in the current Session, his Department has answered that such information is not collected centrally.

Ben Bradshaw: Answers which state that information is not collected centrally are a matter of public record, available in the  Official Report, but are not identified separately by the Department in its own systems. Therefore, to check all such answers sent this session would involve disproportionate cost.
	The Department maintains rigorous procedures to ensure that it collects the most valuable statistical information. Information collected from the national health service by the Department is subject to a process called the Review of Central Returns. This seeks to ensure that information collected fits with national policies for health, does not duplicate existing collections, and minimises the burden to the NHS. Further details are available on the NHS Information Centre's website at:
	http://www.ic.nhs.uk/services/the-review-of-central-returns-rocr

Health Services: Prisoners

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the standard of healthcare for prisoners in England and Wales in comparison to that received outside prisons through the National Health Service.

Phil Hope: With regard to England, health services in prisons are monitored on three main fronts.
	Within prisons, her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) undertake both announced and unannounced inspections of prison establishments, from which reports are produced and progress monitored. Health services to prisoners are included in these inspection visits. HMIP have worked closely with the Healthcare Commission to ensure that national health service standards relating to primary health trusts (PCTs) commissioning of health services in custody reflect the standards expected by all NHS organisations. Both organisations have a memorandum of understanding to support work in this area.
	The Department has developed a range of prison health performance indicators to assess NHS standards of services provided in custody to support commissioners to measure these services against those that would generally be provided in the community. These new performance standards were introduced in 2008 across the prison estate with a 98 per cent. completion rate, these reports are supported at the strategic health authority level and allow for local monitoring and service development. The reports also enable comparison across establishments of the same size, same type of prison and same expected activity.
	The Independent Monitoring Boards in each establishment provide an annual report highlighting progress and any concerns. Health care is included in this report, both PCTs and the Department are expected to provide responses to any health issues including any action plans to improve services.
	Health services in prisons in Wales are a matter for the Welsh Assembly government.

Hearing Aid Council

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the Hearing Aid Council to be disbanded.

Phil Hope: We are working towards the required secondary legislation to allow the closure of the Hearing Aid Council and the transfer of it's register to the Health Professions Council in March 2010.

Hospitals: Infectious Diseases

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many healthcare-acquired infections there were in each primary care trust area in each of the last five years.

Ann Keen: The information requested is not available. The mandatory surveillance system in England applies to national health service acute trusts and data on primary care trusts are not currently compiled.

Human Papilloma Virus: Vaccination

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many girls in each local authority area have opted out of receiving the human papilloma virus vaccination.

Dawn Primarolo: The Department does not collect this data centrally.

Multiple Sclerosis: Drugs

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 28 October 2008,  Official Report, columns 919-20W, on multiple sclerosis: drugs, what factors his Department considered when deciding not to publish Annex C of the ScHARR report; if he will place in the Library a full copy of the report; how many of the 5,000 patients subject to routine monitoring are still taking any of the drugs covered by the scheme; in which peer reviewed medical journal the results of the two-year analysis will be published; and if he will make a statement.

Ann Keen: The Department considered a range of factors in deciding not to publish Annex C of the ScHARR report. These included the commercially confidential nature of the material in the annex. The ScHARR report was submitted to the Department as a summary of the work undertaken on the scheme. We have no plans to publish a full copy of the report or place it in the Library. A great majority of the 5,000 patients monitored in the risk sharing scheme are still taking the drugs covered by the scheme. Fuller details of patient numbers will be included in the forthcoming two-year analysis. Arrangements are being made for the publication of this analysis but it has yet to be accepted for publication in a specific journal.

NHS Direct

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what parties were consulted prior to the decision being taken that NHS Direct will not be granted foundation trust status;
	(2)  what plans his Department has to review the future operation of NHS Direct following the decision that it will not become a Foundation Trust;
	(3)  what reasons have been given to his Department for the decision by NHS Direct not to pursue Foundation Trust status; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: The Department of Health and NHS Direct jointly commissioned KPMG to look at options for a future model for commissioning and delivering a multi-channel health information and advice service to the public. The review also considered whether foundation trust was an appropriate organisational form for NHS Direct.
	In the course of the review, KPMG consulted representatives from:
	the Department;
	NHS Direct;
	the NHS including: East Midlands Strategic Health Authority, Nottingham City Primary Care Trust, Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust, Yorkshire Ambulance Trust, London Ambulance Service, Wolverhampton Primary Care Trust, Trafford Primary Care Trust, NHS Direct Wales, North East SHA, South West Ambulance Trust, East of England Primary Care Trust, NHS Blood and Transplant, Devon Doctors; and
	external organisations including Pfizer Health Solutions UK.
	The review concluded, among other things, that foundation trust status was not the right organisational model for NHS Direct at the current time. The recommendations were that NHS Direct's current status as an NHS trust should be retained for now until financial and contracting mechanisms are reviewed and agreed and foundation trust policy on national organisations is clarified. This does not preclude NHS Direct from reapplying for foundation trust status in the future. All parties agreed to accept the recommendations.
	The Department continues its ongoing discussions with NHS Direct about future operational and organisation form, taking into account factors such as NHS Choices and the Government's wider work on digital technology.

NHS: Drugs

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library copies of all submissions made to Professor Mike Richards' review reported on in, Improving access to medicines for NHS patients.

Alan Johnson: Professor Mike Richards published, as part of his report "Improving access to medicines for NHS patients", a summary of the views he heard as part of his comprehensive engagement exercise, including a summary of the mailbox responses. This can be found at appendix 2 of his report.

NHS: Drugs

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library copies of the evidence referred to in paragraph 2.17 of, Improving access to medicines for NHS patients; if he will list the criteria used to demonstrate cost-effectiveness; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: I understand that the evidence referred to by Professor Richards in paragraph 2.17 of his report includes appraisals conducted by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) such as NICE's appraisals of the clinical and cost-effectiveness of trastuzumab (Herceptin) for both early-stage and advanced HER2-positive breast cancer.
	Information relating to these appraisals is available on NICE's website at:
	www.nice.org.uk/Guidance/TA107
	(early-stage)
	and
	www.nice.org.uk/Guidance/TA34
	(advanced).

NHS: Drugs

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to implement recommendation 1 of, Improving access to medicines for NHS patients; with regard to what specific steps he will take to publish updated timetables; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the oral statement made by the Secretary of State for Health on 4 November 2008,  Official Report, column 131.

NHS: Drugs

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the average number of treatments involving the off-label usage of a drug  (a) provided and  (b) denied to patients in the latest period for which information is available; what steps his Department plans to take to assist primary care trusts to make decisions on funding off-label usage of drugs; whether his Department plans to discuss with (i) the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and (ii) the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency the funding of off-label usage of drugs; what timetable he has set for implementing Recommendation 4 of Improving access to medicines for NHS patients; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: We have made no estimate of the annual number of such treatments and we have no plans to discuss the funding of such treatments with either the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence or the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
	The NHS chief executive wrote to strategic health authority chief executives on 4 November 2008 to ask them to review, by April 2009, the way in which PCTs in their area collaborate to support effective decision-making on funding treatments. A copy of the letter has been placed in the Library. Strategic health authorities are now taking this piece of work forward in their areas.

NHS: Drugs

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what timetable he has set for implementing Recommendation 11 of Improving access to medicines for NHS patients; which organisations his Department plans to commission to conduct the recommended audit; whether he plans to publish the results; whether he plans to repeat the audit; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has asked Professor Mike Richards to lead the implementation of recommendation 11 of his report, "Improving access to medicines on the NHS", and Professor Richards is currently considering the best approach to this piece of work. A copy of this report has already been placed in the Library.

NHS: Drugs

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to Appendix 1 of Improving access to medicines for NHS patients; for what reasons his Department did not request that all primary care trusts respond to his Department's survey on the use of exceptional funding procedures; which primary care trusts provided  (a) full and  (b) partial responses; what assessment he has made of the reasons for six primary care trusts providing partial responses; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State deliberately set a challenging time scale for the review in order to minimise the period of uncertainty for patients, while still allowing Professor Richards enough time to consider these difficult issues properly.
	In light of the need to gather evidence as quickly as possible, primary care trusts (PCTs) were given a tighter deadline for responding to this survey than is normal, and the deadline for responding was over the summer period. This meant that some PCTs were unable to respond. However, Professor Richards was confident that the data collected from the 80 PCTS who did respond fully was representative of the picture across the country. For example, the results of the Department of Health survey are consistent with a survey conducted by the Rarer Cancers Forum, the results of which are set out in chapter 2 of Professor Richards' report, "Improving access to medicines for NHS patients". A copy of the report has already been placed in the Library.

NHS: Information and Communications Technology

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  which  (a) Ministers and  (b) heads of NHS IT have been responsible for the Cerner systems; over what periods each such person was responsible for the systems; and what meetings (i) have been held and (ii) are planned between the responsible Ministers or heads of NHS IT and hospital trusts on the systems;
	(2)  which part of the NHS has responsibility for funding additional costs arising from the introduction and running of NHS IT Cerner systems in hospital trusts.

Ben Bradshaw: Under the national programme for information technology (NPfIT) it is the responsibility of the local service providers (LSPs) to manage the delivery of systems and services to the contracted timetables and for the management of their subcontractors and suppliers, of which Cerner is one. The Department assesses progress against plans and manages the relationship and commercial arrangements with suppliers to ensure that national health service requirements are being met.
	Ministerial responsibility for NPfIT over the period has been as follows:
	John Hutton: Inception of NPfIT to May 2005;
	Lord Warner: May 2005 to December 2006;
	Lord Hunt: January 2007 to June 2007: and
	Myself as Minister of State for Health Services: July 2007 to present.
	Day-to-day responsibility for NPfIT currently lies with Martin Bellamy as director of programme and system delivery accountable to Ministers for the strategic direction of the programme and for management of the contracts between the Department and LSPs. Mr. Bellamy took up his post in September 2008. Prior to his appointment, responsibility lay with Gordon Hextall, chief operating officer, from January 2008, following the departure of the then director general of NHS IT, Richard Granger. Mr. Granger was appointed, at the inception of the national programme, in October 2002.
	No meetings have to date been held, or are currently planned, between Ministers and trust officials specifically relating to the systems. Responsibility for deployments, including planning and timetabling, lies with the relevant NHS bodies, who agree the deployments with suppliers in line with the suppliers' capacity and their local circumstances. There have been and will continue to be numerous meetings between trusts and heads of IT, including visits to trusts as a matter of routine business.
	The local NHS service implementation and running costs of NPfIT systems and services are paid by the NHS bodies which receive and benefit from them, out of normal NHS allocations.

Patient Choice Schemes

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which hospitals are not connected to the Choose and Book system.

Ben Bradshaw: All national health service hospital trusts use the choose and book system. Of these, 145 currently receive direct electronic bookings, and 24 are not electronically connected to the system but receive 'indirect' bookings. In this case, booking information is transferred manually on to the choose and book system from hospital systems by trust staff.

Smoking: Young People

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government is taking to prevent the purchase of tobacco on behalf of those under 18 years old.

Dawn Primarolo: Preventing the purchase of tobacco by young people under 18 is one of the Government's top priorities. We recently consulted on the issues in a major public consultation on the Future of Tobacco Control, a copy of which has already been placed in the Library. The issue of purchasing tobacco on behalf of under-18s was raised in the consultation.

Social Services

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what statistical items are centrally collected from local authorities on social care in their area.

Phil Hope: Statistical returns are collected from local authorities by a number of different organisations as relate to the provision of children's and adult's social care services:
	The NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care (NHS IC) collects information on adult social care for the Department of Health;
	The Department for Children, Schools and Families collects information on the provision of children's social care services;
	The Commission for Social Care Inspection collects information on adult social care relevant to its function as the independent regulator of those services; and
	Skills for Care, the employer-led authority funded by the Department of Health, collects information on social care work force.
	A table has been placed in the Library which sets out the individual data returns collected by the organisations above in 2008-09.
	Following the implementation of the new Local Performance Framework for Local Authorities and their Partners from April 2008, the Department has undertaken a review of its adult social care collections (noted in the table as collected by NHS IC). This review, facilitated by the NHS IC, has been wide ranging and culminated in a public consultation on proposals for the future, conducted under Office for National Statistics rules. The consultation ended on 24 October 2008, and final recommendations for the scope and nature of future adult social care collections will be submitted for consideration by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State before the end of the year.

Bank Services: Charities

Jim Dowd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to protect the funds of registered charities held by Icelandic banks.

Ian Pearson: holding answer 27 October 2008
	The Government have put in place arrangements to ensure that all FSCS-eligible depositors in the Icelandic banks of Landsbanki, Heritable and Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander will receive their money in full. If a charity is eligible to claim compensation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, it will be entitled to benefit from these arrangements. Charities not eligible for compensation from the FSCS will be creditors in the normal way.

Banks

Michael Fallon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he was first informed of concerns about Kaupthing, Singer and Friedlander Bank; when these concerns were first discussed by the tripartite authorities; and at what level the discussion took place.

Ian Pearson: holding answer 17 November 2008
	The FSA intensified its supervision of deposit-taking by Icelandic banks (including through increased contact with firms, more frequent visits and enhanced reporting requirements) from the beginning of 2008. As the economic situation deteriorated during the year and particularly since September, the FSA worked increasingly with the banks concerned.
	As the memorandum of understanding between HM Treasury, the Bank of England and the FSA sets out, the FSA informs the Tripartite of its concerns on a regular basis.

Departmental ICT

Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Fareham of 27 October 2008,  Official Report, columns 778-80W, on departmental ICT, what IT projects  (a) HM Revenue and Customs and  (b) the Valuation Office Agency are undertaking; and what the most recent estimate is of (i) the cost and (ii) the completion date of each.

Stephen Timms: The following tables list large IT change projects being undertaken by  (a) HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and  (b) the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) as at November 2008, with their associated cost ranges and currently planned implementation dates.
	HMRC and VOA undertake IT change projects across a wide range of their business processes and systems.
	Table  (b) includes IT change projects managed through the 'World Class Programme' of the VOA, which manages the delivery of business projects that have an IT impact. Projects currently preparing viability proposals have not yet assessed their IT costs.
	The tables do not include projects which are making minor enhancements to existing systems, or projects being delivered on behalf of other Government Departments. Costs identified are those relating to the IT elements of Business change projects from April 2008 to the expected implementation date.
	Many of our IT projects are at an early stage in their development lifecycle, and detailed technical solutions and IT supplier costs are yet to be established. The figures shown below are therefore estimates and remain subject to revision, finalisation and formal investment approval.
	
		
			  Table (a): HMRC IT projects as at November 2008 
			  IT project  Implementation date  Estimated costs (£ million) 
			 Combined Economic Operator Projects February 2010 1-5 
			 Common Core Components March 2009 5-10 
			 Connect January 2010 5-10 
			 Consolidation of Inward Cheque Processing March 2009 1-5 
			 Enterprise infrastructure December 2011 over 20 
			 Enterprise Resource Planning System March 2010 5-10 
			 Estates Consolidation and Transformation Programme March 2012 32-35 
			 EU Legislative risk Requirement January 2010 5-10 
			 EU VAT Refunds Project December 2009 5-10 
			 European Union Savings Directive Project October 2009 under 1 
			 Excise Movement and Control System October 2010 over 20 
			 FTS3 Sea Containers November 2008 1-5 
			 Government Card Account April 2009 under 1 
			 HMRC Banking Transition Project September 2009 5-10 
			 Implementation of Lord Carter's Recommendations on online services December 2012 over 20 
			 Import/Export/Community Transit Systems March 2010 10-20 
			 Internal on-line guidance March 2009 1-5 
			 Managed Data Transfer Service April 2009 10-15 
			 Modernising PAYE Processes for Customers June 2010 over 20 
			 Spectrum March 2009 over 20 
			 Student Loan Business Service Modernisation April 2009 1-5 
			 Tax Credits Transformation Programme October 2009 5-10 
			 Tribunals Reform April 2009 under 1 
			 VAT systems changes December 2008 under 1 
			 Workflow and Case Management April 2009 5-10 
		
	
	
		
			  Table (b): VOA IT projects as at November 2008 
			  IT Project  Implementation date  Estimated costs (£ million) 
			 BlackBerries December 2008 under 1 
			 Geographical Information System January 2010 1-5 
			 Hardcopy Records—Strategic October 2009 1-5 
			 Tech Refresh June 2009 1-5

Excise Duties: Motor Vehicles

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  for what reason light goods vehicles with lower emissions ratings do not fall into a lower vehicle excise duty band than similar vehicles with higher emissions;
	(2)  if he will assess the merits of vehicle excise duty gradation according to emissions levels in the case of light goods vehicles.

Angela Eagle: Comprehensive data on the carbon dioxide emissions of light goods vehicles is unavailable, and therefore vehicle excise duty for these vehicles cannot be differentiated by carbon dioxide emission levels at this time.

Financial Institutions: Iran

William Hague: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the implications for UK financial institutions of the decision by the United States administration to ban Iran from undertaking u-turn financial transactions involving US financial institutions.

Ian Pearson: The U-turn license enabled Iranian entities to have indirect access to the US financial system—including through UK financial institutions. Revocation of that license will mean financial institutions worldwide can no longer route payments for the benefit of Iran through the US.
	We are not aware that UK financial institutions made any significant use of the U-turn license, and therefore we expect the US decision to close the U-turn licence will have limited implications for UK financial institutions.

Financial Services Authority: Departmental Responsibilities

Ann Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which department has ministerial responsibility for the Financial Services Authority.

Ian Pearson: The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is an independent non-governmental body, given statutory powers by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. It is a company limited by guarantee, operationally independent of Government and funded entirely by the firms it regulates.
	This statutory independence means that the Government do not have any control over the day-to-day running of the organisation, but it falls within the policy field for which the Treasury is responsible. The FSA is accountable to Parliament, the Treasury, the public and industry in a number of ways including the requirement for the FSA to publish an annual report on the discharge of its functions and the extent to which its regulatory objectives have been met.

Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander: Isle of Man

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions his Department has had with  (a) the Isle of Man authorities and  (b) Kaupthing, Singer and Friedlander Bank (Isle of Man) on the bank releasing the funds held within it.

Ian Pearson: Arrangements for depositors in banks in the Isle of Man are a matter for the Government of the Isle of Man.
	Deposits with Kaupthing, Singer and Friedlander, Isle of Man, will be subject to the Isle of Man Deposit Compensation Scheme.
	Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings and discussions with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings and discussions.

Office of Government Commerce: Finance

David Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the budget for  (a) the Office of Government Commerce and  (b) OGC Buying Solutions is for each of the next three financial years.

Angela Eagle: Details on the Office of Government Commerce's DEL budget for the next three financial years are set out in "HM Treasury Annual Report 2007-08" (CM 7408). Approval for changes to the 2008-09 provision will be sought through the supply process.
	OGCbuying.solutions is a trading fund set up under the Government Trading Funds Act 1973 and is therefore dependant on the funds they earn, and consequently receives no central budget for its operations. This means that Buying Solutions must cover its expenditure completely through sales to its customers. While Buying Solutions undertakes rigorous financial planning, its expenditure is off-set by its income earned.

Public Sector: Procurement

David Kidney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidance he has given the Centre of Expertise for Sustainable Procurement regarding the use of whole-life costing in public sector procurement.

Angela Eagle: The Centre of Expertise in Sustainable Procurement uses the guidance published in HM Treasury 'The Green Book: Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government', which states that whole life costing (WLC) must be applied in all public sector procurement as part of ensuring value for money solutions.

Retail Trade: Competition

Andrew George: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what meetings at which the Competition Commission market investigation into the supply of groceries in the UK was discussed he has had since 1 May 2008;
	(2)  what meetings he and Ministers within his Department have had with representatives of UK grocery retailers since 1 May 2008.

Angela Eagle: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

Revenue and Customs: Reorganisation

Andrew George: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the impact which the closure of HM Revenue and Customs offices have upon the economy of the areas in which they were based;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the fiscal stimulus which HM Revenue and Customs offices contribute to the economies in the areas in which they are located;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed closure of the Penzance tax office on the local economy; and if he will assess the potential contribution of that office to the local economy in the current economic climate;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the fiscal stimulus provided to local economies from HM Revenue and Customs operations in local communities.

Stephen Timms: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) draw socio-economic issues to my attention in the impact assessments it prepares when drawing up its regional review proposals. These are important issues but the primary consideration is HMRC's need to restructure itself into a modern and efficient organisation meeting the needs of its customers.
	HMRC is organised on national business lines and most offices do not have a direct link to the taxpaying community in which they are located, with the exception of the Inquiry Centres HMRC's general expectation is that staff based at offices that are to be vacated will commute to another office within reasonable daily travel.
	They will still therefore contribute to their local economy.

Valuation Office: Geographical Information Systems

Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst of 4 November 2008,  Official Report, column 314W, on the Valuation Office, if he will place in the Library a copy of the invitation to tender with commercially sensitive elements redacted.

Stephen Timms: It would be inappropriate to do so as Aspire have conducted the tender process.

Valuation Office: Northern Ireland Land and Property Services

Jacqui Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst of 7 July 2008,  Official Report, column 1266W, on the Valuation Office: Northern Ireland Land and Property Services, if he will place in the Library copies of the minutes of the Steering Committee on Harmonisation in respect of each of the meetings listed in the Answer.

Stephen Timms: A copy of the minutes of the 45th and 46th meetings of the Steering Committee on Harmonisation (Practice and Procedure) England Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland held on 8-9 May 2007 in Belfast and 6-7 November 2007 in London have been placed in the Library. There were no minutes from the other meetings.

VAT: Energy

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 7 July 2008,  Official Report, column 1267W, on VAT: lighting, what progress he has made at EU level on his proposals for wider application of reduced value added tax rates to energy saving and energy efficient products; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: In response to a joint proposal from the UK and France for a reduced rate of VAT on energy-efficient products and energy-saving materials, and following the Conclusions of the Spring European Council, the European Commission has launched an external study to examine the economic effects of such measures. The Government's current understanding are that this study will be concluded within the coming months.

Djibouti: Overseas Aid

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much UK aid was given to Djibouti in  (a) 1997,  (b) 2001 and  (c) 2005.

Ivan Lewis: Details on UK aid to Djibouti since 1997-98 are laid out in the following table.
	
		
			  Total UK gross public expenditure on development (GPEX) to Djibouti, 1997-98 to 2007-08 
			  £000 
			   Bilateral GPEX  UK imputed share of multilateral ODA( 1) 
			 1997-98 2 439 
			 1998-99 0 1,204 
			 1999-2000 — 7 
			 2000-01 — 2,446 
			 2001-02 — 569 
			 2002-03 14 2,208 
			 2003-04 — 455 
			 2004-05 — 1,585 
			 2005-06 — 1,109 
			 2006-07 3,944 1,482 
			 2007-08 176 — 
			 (1) 2007-08 data are not yet available 
		
	
	The 2006-07 and 2007-08 bilateral data in the above table are estimates of the value of, DFID funding to the Education Fast Track Initiative (FTI) allocated to Djibouti. This allocation is based on the breakdown of expenditure reported by the FTI.

North Africa: EU Aid

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions he has had with the European Commission on plans to increase EU aid to  (a) Morocco,  (b) Algeria,  (c) Libya and  (d) Egypt.

Douglas Alexander: The European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) represents the majority of the European Commission's aid to Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Egypt. The 2007-10 aid budgets for all countries under the ENPI were approved by EU member states, including the UK, in 2006. country allocations will be considered again during the mid-term review of the ENPI in 2010, when the budgets for 2011-13 will be agreed. The Department for International Development (DFID) will continue to be involved with the European Commission during this process.

Palestinians: Overseas Aid

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent steps the Government has taken to promote economic development in Palestine.

Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) provided financial and technical support to the Palestinian Authority (PA) to host the first Palestine Investment Conference in Bethlehem in May this year, at which over £700 million of investment agreements were signed with mainly with Arab companies. Following the success of the conference, the Prime Minister announced a further investment event to be hosted in London on 15-16 December 2008. This will build further momentum on the economic track of the peace process by helping to increase investment and economic relations between the UK and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
	DFID is also currently funding a new £3.7 million Facility for New Market Development (FNMD) to support Palestinian businesses diversify and compete in new markets and enhance exports. During his visit in July this year, the Prime Minister presented the first grant awards to Palestinian entrepreneurs from this facility, and spoke at a seminar of leading UK and Palestinian businesspeople. The facility already has 23 clients, including seven businesses owned by women, and four coming from Gaza. DFID has also provided the PA with £3 million to help it pay off its private sector debts. This benefited firms in both Gaza and the west bank.
	In parallel with these activities, the UK Government have called on the government of Israel to ease the restrictions on the movement of Palestinian people and goods.

Departmental ICT

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of data cleansing of his Department's customer information system was in each year since 2004.

Jonathan R Shaw: The information requested is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Financial year  Data cleansing( 1)  (£000) 
			 2008-09 460 
			 2007-08 390 
			 2006-07 312 
			 2005-06 290 
			 2004-05 290 
			 (1) Ongoing costs for data cleansing work is drawn from the cost of a data maintenance team and the delivery of related change requests. Other Government Departments may also contribute to data cleansing in regards to shared data. This amount is not included in the table as it could be collated only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Responsibilities

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which  (a) external and  (b) internal programmes of his Department and its agencies cost between £1 million and £50 million; and what the (i) purpose and (ii) expected completion date of each is.

Jonathan R Shaw: All projects/programmes within DWP are subject to a formal monitoring and governance process. However, within this monitoring/governance process, there are two levels.
	 1. Monitoring by Investment Committee/Change Delivery Committee (CDC)
	Projects which form part of the CDC Portfolio are projects/programmes where they require:
	a. an up-front investment cost of over £25 million and/or,
	b. requires a commitment of steady state ongoing costs in excess of £10 million per annum (DEL Admin/DEL Programme/or AME); and/or,
	c. an Office of Government Commerce Risk Potential Assessment Score of 41 points or over; and/or
	d. make a significant contribution to the Department's objectives (this is taken to include a close alignment with a ministerial objective, a public sector agreement target or a target set by the centre of Government for the Department as a whole).
	 2. Projects Managed by Business Unit Governance Boards
	These are still subjected to a formal process but are projects which fall outside the scope of CDC because they have lower financial investment.
	The majority of the projects/programmes covered in this response are monitored and managed within the CDC Portfolio, and are therefore within the £25 million to £50 million range. However, for some IS-IT projects, we have already collected this data and these have also been included.
	For the majority of projects managed by business units (£1 million to £25 million) we are unable to provide details due to the disproportionate cost associated with obtaining these details.
	When assessing the costs of the projects to be included, the 'investment (i.e. one-off)' costs of the project/programme have been used. Costs of running the solutions implemented by the projects and programmes are not included as in the vast majority of cases they are more than compensated for by the financial benefits they generate.
	
		
			  Project  (i) Purpose  (ii) Expected completion date 
			 Document Repository Service(1) This project seeks to support the Department's modernisation programmes through the provision of a document repository to store digitised images of documents received from customers (letters, faxes, e-mails etc.), cutting down paper in the organisation March 2009 
			 On Time Solution Provide a range of improved information services to DWP businesses, including improved quicker management information, fraud and error intervention and analysis March 2011 
			 Provider Referrals and Payment Project Deploy an IT system to automate and e-enable transactions between Jobcentre Plus and training providers June 2010 
			 Local Services Integration Programme To provide local services with an IT solution that supports the end to end process December 2011 
			 Government Connect To roll out a secure data network connecting Government and local authorities, including secure file transfer, e-mail and web-browser capability March 2011 
			 Method of Payment Reform MPRP will develop modern, electronic, secure and efficient methods of payments for customers who require payment by an alternate means other than direct payment to bank accounts. March 2011 
			 Tell Us Once TUO is a major cross Government initiative, led by DWP, to transform the way in which people can tell Government (central and local) about changes to their circumstances April 2009 
			 Data Centre Strategy The project is addressing the ongoing continued threat of business service continuity at Washington Data Centre with a replacement strategy to be complete by the end of 2010 2010 
			 Lone Parent Obligations LPO is part of welfare reform and intends increasing the lone parent employment rate. Currently lone parents are not required to seek employment until their youngest child reaches 16. Under new proposals to be phased in (starting with youngest child aged 12), lone parents will no longer be entitled to income support solely for being a lone parent if their youngest child is above seven. In the last year before entitlement ceases, work-focused interviews will take place to encourage lone parents to take up training opportunities, leading to employment February 2011 
			 Provider Led Pathways to Work (PL Pathways) Central to the welfare reform agenda, this project will contract the private and voluntary sector to provide additional help and support for all but the most severely ill or disabled incapacity benefit customers gaining employment. Additional help will be provided through additional mandatory monthly work-focused interviews and tailored, job-focused support, including help to manage customer's health condition, especially in relation to work April 2008 
			 Jobseekers Regime and Flexible New Deal This programme will replace and streamline the current new deal programmes and will concentrate on tackling the challenging problems of those who remain unemployed despite a strong economy and historically low unemployment. The programme will include provision of obtaining skills and mandatory work experience for customers October 2010 
			 Periodicity and Payday This project forms part of the Working Age (WA) Benefit Simplification Programme to align and extend payment periods for all WA benefits on an incremental basis so that they would over time be paid on a fortnightly basis, wholly in arrears. A single payday will be assigned to each individual, regardless of the benefits they receive July 2009 
			 (1) Document Repository System: The date shown for the expected completion date (March 2009) is the End Project Review (EPR) date. A completion date of November 2008 has been previously quoted; this refers to the 1(st) "Go Live Date" which was delivered to the original planned deadline.

Deprivation Indicators: Children

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what indicators his Department uses to monitor levels of child poverty; and if he will make a statement on trends in these indicators since 1997.

Kitty Ussher: The Department uses three indicators to monitor levels of child poverty; they were established in 2003 following a lengthy period of consultation.
	Absolute low income measures whether the poorest families are seeing their income rise in real terms. The threshold is fixed as equal to the relative low income threshold for the baseline year of 1998-99 expressed in today's prices.
	Relative low income measures whether the incomes of the poorest families are keeping pace with the growth of incomes in the economy as a whole. This indicator measures the number of children living in households below 60 per cent. of contemporary median equivalised income. This is the indicator which is used to measure performance against the public service agreement target to halve child poverty by 2010-11.
	Material deprivation and low income combined provides a wider measure of people's living standards. This indicator measures the number of children living in households that are both materially deprived and have an income below 70 per cent. of contemporary equivalised median income.
	Since 1998 progress has been made against all of the indicators. 600,000 children have been lifted out of relative low income between 1998-99 and 2006-07, a shift from 3.4 million children to 2.9 million children. The number of children living in absolute low income has halved from 3.4 million to 1.7 million.
	Between 2004-05, the first year data was available, and 2006-07 the number of children in the UK defined as poor using the combined indicator of relative low income and material deprivation fell by 200,000 from 2.2 million to 2.0 million on the particular material deprivation threshold that was chosen.
	Low income is not the only dimension to poverty and a child's quality of life, including access to health care, education and a safe environment, are critical.
	The three indicators are therefore underpinned by the broader Opportunity for all indicators. Opportunity for all is the Government's report on poverty and social exclusion which includes a wide range of poverty and social exclusion indicators for children and young people (as well as working age adults, older people and communities) including health, education and housing. Details can be found on the Opportunity for all website at
	www.dwp.gov.uk/ofa.

Disabled

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people with disabilities his Department employs.

Jonathan R Shaw: The number of staff who have declared themselves to be disabled is 6,075, 5.7per cent. of the work force.
	However, while the Department encourages staff to make a declaration, declaration is voluntary. We are aware that not all disabled staff do declare that they consider themselves to be disabled, and the true figure may be higher than this. For example, the 2008 DWP staff survey (which is completed anonymously), showed that 13.6 per cent. of respondents considered themselves to have a long standing health condition or disability.

Employment: Disabled

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what percentage of people with disabilities referred to the Shaw Trust by his Department's agencies have successfully entered  (a) full-time and  (b) part-time employment in each of the last three years;
	(2)  how many people with disabilities referred to the Shaw Trust by his Department's agencies have successfully secured  (a) full-time and  (b) part-time jobs in the last six months.

Tony McNulty: The Department does not hold central records of the total number of people with disabilities referred to Shaw Trust and therefore figures to show the number of successful referrals as a percentage of all referrals could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Details of the number of people with disabilities referred to Shaw Trust's New Deal for Disabled People (NDDP) contract, who have successfully entered full or part-time employment in each of the last three years, and during the last SIX months, is provided in the following table. Shaw Trust also has a number of other small contracts including Workstep, Work Prep and Pathways to Work. The number of disabled people moving into full or part time work through these contracts is 2,167. Information to show the number of people separately entering full and part time work in these contracts is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  NDDP Job outcomes 
			   Full time jobs  Part time jobs  Total 
			 2007-08 7,815 599 8,414 
			 2006-07 7,207 1,179 8,386 
			 2005-06 8,088 1,129 9,217 
			 April to September 2008 3,562 85 3,647

Pensions: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people  (a) in the City of York local authority area and  (b) City of York constituency receive (i) the basic state pension and (ii) pension credit; and what the average weekly value of the pension credit issued was in the last period for which figures are available.

Rosie Winterton: The information requested is in the following tables.
	
		
			  Pension credit household recipients and average weekly amount of benefit—May 2008 
			  Pension credit 
			   Households in receipt  Average weekly amount of   benefit (£) 
			 York Local Authority 6,720 45.45 
			 City of York Parliamentary Constituency 4,420 46.35 
			  Notes: 1. Caseloads are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household. 3. Average amounts are shown as pounds per week and rounded to the nearest penny. Source: DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data 
		
	
	
		
			  Basic state pension recipients—September 2007 
			   Basic state pension recipients 
			 York Local Authority 36,200 
			 City of York Parliamentary Constituency 18,300 
			  Notes: 1. Data is taken from 5 per cent. extract of PSCS, therefore figures are subject to a degree of sampling variation. They are also adjusted to be consistent with the overall caseload from the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. 3. September 2007 is the latest data currently available.  Source: DWP Information Directorate

Higher Education: Finance

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what recent discussions he has had with the National Union of Students on higher education funding.

David Lammy: We will start to consider the future of higher education funding next year after we have published our framework for the development of higher education over the next 10 to 15 years. We have asked the National Union of Students for their perspective on the issues raised by that framework and we look forward to considering their views in due course.

Ballistic Missile Defence

Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to the Answer to the right hon. Member for Richmond of 4 June 2007,  Official Report, column 237W, on missile defence systems, what further discussions have taken place with the US on missile defence since the developments referred to in the Answer.

Caroline Flint: The issue of ballistic missile defence (BMD) is routinely discussed both bilaterally with the US, and in various North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) fora. Since the Bucharest summit, NATO has been carrying out work looking at extending the coverage of the US BMD system to cover the whole of the NATO homeland region. It is anticipated that this work will culminate in a report being presented to the Strasbourg summit in April 2009, with a view to NATO Ministers making a political decision on the future of BMD in Europe.

Uganda: Armed Conflict

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects the final peace agreement between the Lord's Resistance Army and the government of Uganda to be signed; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the time taken to sign the agreement on security and stability in the region, including Greater Equatoria and Southern Sudan.

Gillian Merron: The UN special envoy to northern Uganda and Southern Sudan, Joaquim Chissano and the chief mediator to the Juba Peace Process, Dr. Riek Machar, have called on the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader, Joseph Kony, to sign the Final Peace Agreement by the 29 November. There can be no guarantee, however, that Kony will sign.
	The LRA poses an increasingly serious threat to security in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), southern Sudan and the Central African Republic. It has carried out numerous attacks against both civilians and military forces in recent months. The civilian attacks have resulted in more abductions. The majority of attacks have been within the DRC. However, the LRA has also been active along the border with southern Sudan, resulting in refugees fleeing into southern Sudan. The LRA attacked a village in southern Sudan in September.

Departmental Manpower

Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many  (a) special advisers and  (b) press officers have been employed by his Department in each year since 1997-98; and at what cost in each year.

Geoff Hoon: Since 2003, the Government have published on an annual basis the number of  (a) special advisers in each pay band. For the most recent information, I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister on 22 July 2008,  Official Report, columns 99-102WS.
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Jim Fitzpatrick) to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 24 April 2008,  Official Report, columns 2212-14W.

Assistant Regional Ministers

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 
	(1)  to what office  (a) staff and  (b) resources assistant regional ministers are entitled; whether they will have the use of a Government car; and what estimate he has made of the annual cost to the public purse of assistant regional ministers;
	(2)  if he will revise the Ministerial Code to take account of the establishment of the post of assistant regional minister; if he will arrange for such assistant ministers to be replaced on select committees to which they have been appointed; and what guidance he has issued to such assistant ministers on their tabling of questions and early-day motions.

Liam Byrne: holding answer 28 October 2008
	Parliamentary assistants to Regional Ministers have a key role in supporting Regional Ministers in their work for the Council of Regional Ministers. However, they are not members of the Government and as such receive no remuneration for the role. Nor are they allocated a Government car, office or staff. Membership of Select Committees and the tabling of parliamentary questions and early-day motions is principally a matter for the House. There are no plans to amend the Ministerial Code.

Cardiovascular Diseases: Death

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many and what proportion of all deaths in each region were from circulation diseases in the latest period for which figures are available.

Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated November 2008:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many and what proportion of all deaths in each region were from circulation diseases in the latest period for which figures are available. (238463)
	The table attached provides the number of deaths, and per cent of all deaths, with an underlying cause of circulatory disease in each Government Office Region for 2007 (the latest year available).
	
		
			  Table 1. Number of deaths, and per cent. of all deaths, with an underlying cause of circulatory disease, by government office region, England, 2007( 1, 2) 
			  Persons 
			  Government office region  Number of deaths  Percentage of all deaths 
			 North East 8,734 33 
			 North West 24,192 34 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 16,784 33 
			 East Midlands 13,832 33 
			 West Midlands 17,007 33 
			 East of England 17,425 34 
			 London 16,743 33 
			 South East 25,763 34 
			 South West 18,127 34 
			 (1 )Cause of death for circulatory disease was defined using the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes 100-199. (2 )Figures are for deaths registered in 2007.

Foreign Workers

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Hertsmere of 17 January 2008,  Official Report, columns 1428-30W, on foreign workers: EU nationals, what the  (a) number of people of working age in employment,  (b) working age population and  (c) working age population employment rate of (i) the UK, (ii) UK citizens, (iii) UK-born citizens, (iv) non-UK citizens and (v) EU A8 citizens was (A) in each year between 1997 and 2001 and (B) in each quarter of 2008 for which figures are available.

Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated November 2008:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Hertsmere of 17th January 2008, Official Report, columns 1428-30W, on foreign workers: EU nationals, what the (a) number of people of working age in employment, (b) working age population and (c) working age population employment rate of (i) the UK, (ii) UK citizens, (iii) UK born citizens, (iv) non-UK citizens and (v) EU A8 citizens was (A) in each year between 1997 and 2001 and (B) in each quarter of 2008 for which figures are available. (238571)
	The attached tables give the number of people of working age for the categories requested.
	The estimates are derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The figures have been derived from the LFS microdata which are weighted using the official population estimates published in September 2007. These population estimates were incorporated in to the LFS in May 2008; as such the estimates provided to the hon. Member for Hertsmere on 17 January 2008 have been revised. In order to ensure that the estimates are comparable, revised figures for the period 2001 to 2007 have also been provided. As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	As the figures have been derived from the LFS microdata which are weighted using the official population estimates published in autumn 2007, they are not entirely consistent with the figures published in the monthly Labour Market Statistics First Release, or the migrant worker figures published every quarter, which are weighted using more up-to-date population estimates.
	
		
			  Levels of working age( 1)  people, by nationality and country of birth; three months ending June 1997 to 2001; three months ending March, June and September 2008—United Kingdom, not seasonally adjusted 
			  Thousand 
			   Total UK( 2)  UK nationals  UK born  Non- UK nationals( 3)  EU A8 nationals( 4) 
			 1997 Q2 35,297 33,729 32,256 1,566 20 
			 1998 Q2 35,418 33,696 32,238 1,718 31 
			 1999 Q2 35,594 33,939 32,401 1,655 26 
			 2000 Q2 35,800 33,959 32,451 1,834 43 
			 2001 Q2 36,060 34,140 32,601 1,915 47 
			 2002 Q2 36,279 34,242 32,643 2,034 47 
			 2003 Q2 36,482 34,315 32,623 2,166 53 
			 2004 Q2 36,730 34,457 32,771 2,266 79 
			 2005 Q2 37,055 34,588 32,842 2,461 172 
			 2006 Q2 37,342 34,635 32,756 2,702 305 
			 2007 Q2 37,556 34,438 32,560 3,096 525 
			 2008 Q1 37,708 34,440 32,530 3,256 602 
			 2008 Q2 37,758 34,462 32,516 3,287 590 
			 2008 Q3(5) *37,808 *34,498 *32,535 *3,283 *599 
			 (1) Men aged 16 to 64 and women aged 16 to 59. (2) Includes those whose nationality or country of birth was not known. (3) Excludes those whose nationality was not known. (4) EU A8 comprises Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. (5) Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates, as described as follows:  Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5 per cent. we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220.  Key Coefficient of Variation (CV) Statistical Robustness * 0 = CV < 5 Estimates are considered precise. ** 5 = CV < 10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise. *** 10 = CV < 20 Estimates are considered acceptable. **** CV = 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes.  Note: It should be noted that the above estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishment (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc.).  Source: Labour Force Survey 
		
	
	
		
			  Employment levels for people of working age( 1) , by nationality and country of birth, three months ending June 1997 to 2001; three months ending March, June and September 2008—United Kingdom, not seasonally adjusted 
			  Thousand 
			   Total UK( 2)  UK nationals  UK born  Non-UK nationals( 3)  EU A8 nationals( 4) 
			 1997 Q2 25,631 24,686 23,710 943 13 
			 1998 Q2 25,858 24,821 23,845 1,036 17 
			 1999 Q2 26,206 25,212 24,173 993 14 
			 2000 Q2 26,564 25,456 24,438 1,108 27 
			 2001 Q2 26,810 25,629 24,594 1,179 29 
			 2002 Q2 26,967 25,701 24,611 1,264 29 
			 2003 Q2 27,201 25,843 24,692 1,358 29 
			 2004 Q2 27,354 25,883 24,762 1,469 63 
			 2005 Q2 27,607 26,032 24,849 1,572 141 
			 2006 Q2 27,775 25,938 24,670 1,837 252 
			 2007 Q2 27,895 25,784 24,508 2,103 431 
			 2008 Q1 28,131 25,870 24,547 2,254 500 
			 2008 Q2 28,152 25,882 24,532 2,266 498 
			 2008 Q3(5) *28,214 *25,928 *24,580 *2,279 **504 
			 (1) Men aged 16 to 64 and women aged 16 to 59. (2) Includes those whose nationality or country of birth was not known. (3) Excludes those whose nationality was not known. (4) EU A8 comprises Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. (5) Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates, as described as follows:  Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV - for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5 per cent. we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key Coefficient of Variation (CV) Statistical Robustness * 0 = CV < 5 Estimates are considered precise. ** 5 = CV<10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise. *** 10 = CV < 20 Estimates are considered acceptable. **** CV = 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes.  Note: It should be noted that the above estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishment (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc.).  Source: Labour Force Survey 
		
	
	
		
			  Employment rates for people of working age( 1) , by nationality and country of birth, three months ending June 1997 to 2001; three months ending March, June and September 2008—United Kingdom, not seasonally adjusted 
			  Percentage 
			   Total UK( 2)  UK nationals  UK born  Non-UK nationals( 3)  EU A8 nationals( 4) 
			 1997 Q2 73 73 74 60 65 
			 1998 Q2 73 74 74 60 54 
			 1999 Q2 74 74 75 60 56 
			 2000 Q2 74 75 75 60 63 
			 2001 Q2 74 75 75 62 62 
			 2002 Q2 74 75 75 62 60 
			 2003 Q2 75 75 76 63 55 
			 2004 Q2 75 75 76 65 79 
			 2005 Q2 75 75 76 64 82 
			 2006 Q2 74 75 75 68 83 
			 2007 Q2 74 75 75 68 82 
			 2008 Q1 75 75 76 69 83 
			 2008 Q2 75 75 75 69 85 
			 2008 Q3 75 75 76 69 84 
			 (1) Men aged 16 to 64 and women aged 16 to 59. (2) Includes those whose nationality or country of birth was not known. (3) Excludes those whose nationality was not known. (4) EU A8 comprises Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.  Source: Labour Force Survey

Productivity

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the productivity level per worker was in each region in the latest period for which figures are available.

Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated November 2008:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on what productivity level per worker was in each region in the latest period for which figures are available. (238462)
	The Office for National Statistics does not produce output per worker estimates at a regional level. Output per worker productivity estimates are only available at the UK level with base year 2003=100. Annual productivity statistics at Government Office Region are available for gross value added (GVA) per hour, GVA per job and GVA per head. These are produced with the base being UK=100.
	Table 1 attached provides estimates of the index value with UK=100 of GVA per filled job at Government Office Region level for 2006.
	
		
			  Table 1 
			  Region  GVA per filled job 
			  United Kingdom 100.0 
			 North East 91.6 
			 North West 90.5 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 89.1 
			 East Midlands 97.1 
			 West Midlands 91.1 
			 East 97.2 
			 London 129.3 
			 South East 107.1 
			 South West 94.1 
			   
			 England 101.7 
			 Wales 86.2 
			 Scotland 94.9 
			 Northern Ireland 87.1

V

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what funding his Department has provided for the charity V in the last five years; what estimate he has made of  (a) the number of volunteers created as a result of such funding and  (b) the cost per volunteer created; and what assessment he has made of the effects of diversion and substitution of volunteers resulting from such funding on other charities.

Kevin Brennan: The Cabinet Office has provided £25,643,000 to v in 2006-07 and £47,175,000 in 2007-08.
	 (a) Up to the end of September 2008 v had created over 750,000 volunteering opportunities and approximately 251,000 had been completed by volunteers.
	 (b) Organisations that deliver projects under v involved, the national youth volunteering programme, were expected to apply for funding based on the following costs per volunteer:
	
		
			  Type of opportunity  Scale of cost per opportunity (£) 
			 Full-time—approximately 30 hours a week over a period of not less than 13 weeks 3,000-5,000 
			 Part-time—a few hours per month up to two or three days per week 500-1,500 
			 Short term—one off 50-150 
		
	
	v aims to prioritise opportunities for a diverse range of young people including young people in or leaving care, offenders and ex-offenders and people with physical or learning disabilities. Volunteers from these groups can require more support which increases the cost per volunteer.
	v is working with existing volunteer involving organisations to inspire a million more young volunteers. The volunteer opportunities that they have created will therefore improve the quantity as well as the quality of the opportunities that are being offered to young people.

Departmental Consultants

Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much  (a) her Department and  (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies spent on external consultancy in each year since her Department's inception; and if she will make a statement.

Sadiq Khan: Figures for the Department and its Agencies expenditure on external consultancy have been published in our Annual Reports for the last two financial years and can be found here:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/archived/publications/corporate/annual-report07
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/annualreport08
	Figure for earlier years and the Department's wider family of non-departmental bodies could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.
	The figure for professional services (excluding research) but including consultancy at the half year mark for the Department alone was £21,862,398 excluding VAT. Of this, Management and IT Consultancy was £20.2 million. Similar figures for Agencies and non-departmental government bodies could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Electronic Equipment

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department, its predecessor and its agencies have spent on  (a) flat screen televisions,  (b) DVD players and  (c) stereo equipment in each of the last three years.

Sadiq Khan: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost by the Department.
	Fire Service College have spent the following on flat screen TVs in the last three years but have not purchase any DVD players or stereo equipment:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2008 1,000 
			 2007 9,000 
			 2006 0 
		
	
	The other agencies, Ordnance Survey, Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre and the Planning Inspectorate could supply this information only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Manpower

Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many press officers were employed in her Department in each year since 1997-98; what the total cost was in each year; and if she will make a statement.

Sadiq Khan: For press office costs, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Mr. Dhanda) to the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne (Julia Goldsworthy) on 17 July 2008,  Official Report, column 580W.
	For numbers of press officers, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Mr. Dhanda) on 18 February 2008,  Official Report, column 14W. For our predecessor Department, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the hon. Member for Poplar and Canning Town (Jim Fitzpatrick) to the hon. Member for Sutton Cheam (Mr. Burstow) on 20 July 2005,  Official Report, column 1772W.
	The hon. Member may also wish to refer to The White Book, published by COL This is available in the Library of the House and contains a listing for members of the Department's Communications Directorate. The book is updated twice yearly.

Homelessness

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent steps the Government has taken to assist the third sector in providing services to people who are homeless.

Iain Wright: holding answer 20 November 2008
	 In December 2007 we announced homelessness grant funding of at least £150 million over the next three years to support local authorities to tackle and prevent homelessness in their area. They, in turn, fund the voluntary sector. In addition, we have also allocated over £50 million of homelessness grant over three years directly to the voluntary sector. This £200 million investment is the biggest ever cash injection for homelessness services.
	On 18 November we launched a new rough sleeping strategy "No One Left Out: communities ending rough sleeping" which is a 15 point action plan that sets out our vision to work with partners to end rough sleeping by 2012. This includes action to develop a community training programme for local community and faith-based groups who work with rough sleepers, to support these groups and to strengthen the skills and knowledge they need for their work. This will build on existing training resources already being delivered through the faith based and community sector.
	We have also funded 258 projects through the £170 million Places of Change programme and its predecessor, which improve hostels and day centres used by rough sleepers through local authorities working in partnership with voluntary organisations.

Homelessness

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps the Government is taking to reduce levels of street homelessness in the West Midlands.

Iain Wright: holding answer 20 November 2008
	 We have long recognised that the most visible form of homelessness is that of people sleeping on the streets. In 1998 the then Prime Minister set a target that by 2002 the number of rough sleepers should be reduced by at least two thirds. The target was met ahead of time and is being sustained.
	Clearly there is more to be done to help those in need and to drive down rough sleeping numbers to as close to zero as possible. Therefore, on 18 November, we launched a new rough sleeping strategy "No One Left Out: communities ending rough sleeping" which is a 15 point action plan that sets out our vision to work with partners to end rough sleeping by 2012.
	In addition, we have announced £200 million funding for local authorities and the voluntary sector over the next three years to help prevent homelessness and tackle rough sleeping. This is the biggest ever cash injection for homelessness services. We have also funded 258 projects through the £170 million Places of Change programme and its predecessor, with over £13 million invested in 16 projects in the West Midlands.

National Clearing House Scheme

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes in each  (a) region and  (b) local authority area have been brought under the National Clearing House Scheme.

Iain Wright: In May, the Government announced a plan to take advantage of market opportunities to bring private sector developer stock into the affordable housing sector by providing £200 million of funding through the Housing Corporation's national Affordable Housing Programme (AHP) for the purchase of homes from house builders.
	To help facilitate this, the Housing Corporation set up the National Clearing House to streamline initial assessment of national packages of at least 250 units from private sector house builders. Housing Corporation investment partners, mainly registered social landlords, wishing to buy smaller number of units from developers could bid for funding directly to the Corporation in the normal way.
	A table showing the distribution of units purchased, and the grant allocated as at the beginning of November by the Corporation for the purchase, by local authority area and region has been deposited in the Library.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what the  (a) Government grant and  (b) budget for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has been in (i) cash and (ii) real terms in the last 20 years; and how much it is in 2008-09;
	(2)  what the percentage increase each year and cumulatively in the  (a) Government grant and  (b) overall budget of (i) North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and (ii) all fire and rescue services in England in (A) cash and (B) real terms was in each of the last 20 years; and what it was in 2008-09.

Sadiq Khan: holding answer 17 November 2008
	The net current expenditure on fire and rescue services for North Yorkshire fire and rescue service and England in cash and real terms since the establishment of North Yorkshire fire and rescue service in April 1996 are tabled as follows.
	Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities.
	Information for North Yorkshire fire and rescue service prior to 1996-97 is not available as this authority did not exist prior to April 1996.
	 (A) Cash terms:
	
		
			  North Yorkshire fire and rescue service 
			   Net current expenditure (non-FRS17)  Government grant 
			   £000  Year on year change (percentage)  Change from 1996-97 (percentage)  £000  Year on year change (percentage)  Change from 2004-05 (percentage) 
			 1996-97 16,038 — — — — — 
			 1997-98 17,090 7 7 — — — 
			 1998-99 17,449 2 9 — — — 
			 1999-2000 19,132 10 19 — — — 
			 2000-01 18,663 -2 16 — — — 
			 2001-02 20,087 8 25 — — — 
			 2002-03 23,348 16 46 — — — 
			 2003-04 23,397 0 46 — — — 
			 2004-05 27,922 19 74 13,486 — — 
			 2005-06 28,359 2 77 14,221 5 5 
			 2006-07 28,986 2 81 13,027 -8 -3 
			 2007-08(1) 32,802 13 105 13,361 3 -1 
			 2008-09(2) 29,117 -11 82 13,653 2 1 
		
	
	
		
			  England 
			   Net current expenditure on all fire and rescue services (non FRS17)  Government grant 
			   £000  Year on year change (percentage)  Change from 1996-97 (percentage)  £000 
			 1996-97 1,280,636 — — — 
			 1997-98 1,337,224 4 4 — 
			 1998-99 1,402,342 5 10 — 
			 1999-2000 1,474,110 5 15 — 
			 2000-01 1,524,179 3 19 — 
			 2001-02 1,606,501 5 25 — 
			 2002-03 1,697,801 6 33 — 
			 2003-04 1,844,834 9 44 — 
			 2004-05 1,957,453 6 53 — 
			 2005-06 2,056,972 5 61 — 
			 2006-07 2,027,215 -1 58 — 
			 2007-08(1) 2,111,546 4 65 — 
			 2008-09(2) 2,219,582 5 73 — 
		
	
	 (B) Real terms (2007-08 prices):
	
		
			  North Yorkshire fire and rescue service 
			   Net current expenditure (non-FRS17)  Government grant 
			   £000  Year on year change (percentage)  Change from 1996-97 (percentage)  £000  Year on year change (percentage)  Change from 2004-05 (percentage) 
			 1996-97 20,908 — — — — — 
			 1997-98 21,710 4 4 — — — 
			 1998-99 21,704 0 4 — — — 
			 1999-2000 23,339 8 12 — — — 
			 2000-01 22,472 -4 7 — — — 
			 2001-02 23,659 5 13 — — — 
			 2002-03 26,641 13 27 — — — 
			 2003-04 25,957 -3 24 — — — 
			 2004-05 30,157 16 44 14,565 — — 
			 2005-06 30,014 0 44 15,051 3 12 
			 2006-07 29,873 0 43 13,426 -11 0 
			 2007-08(1) 32,802 10 57 13,361 0 -1 
			 2008-09(2) 28,269 -14 35 13,255 -1 -2 
		
	
	
		
			  England 
			   Net current expenditure on all fire and rescue services (non FRS17)  Government grant 
			   £000  Year on year change (percentage)  Change from 1996-97 (percentage)  £000 
			 1996-97 1,669,495 — — — 
			 1997-98 1,698,688 2 2 — 
			 1998-99 1,744,293 3 4 — 
			 1999-2000 1,798,221 3 8 — 
			 2000-01 1,835,233 2 10 — 
			 2001-02 1,892,160 3 13 — 
			 2002-03 1,937,244 2 16 — 
			 2003-04 2,046,677 6 23 — 
			 2004-05 2,114,131 3 30 — 
			 2005-06 2,177,036 3 30 — 
			 2006-07 2,089,266 -4 25 — 
			 2007-08(1) 2,111,546 1 26 — 
			 2008-09(2) 2,154,934 2 29 — 
			 (1) Provisional outturn . (2) Budget estimates.   Source:  Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn (RO) and Revenue Account (RA) Budget returns and HM Treasury GDP deflators. 
		
	
	The current expenditure defined here is the cost of running local authority services within the financial year. This includes the costs of staffing, heating, lighting and cleaning, together with expenditure on goods and services consumed within the year. This expenditure is offset by income from sales, fees and charges and other (non-grant) income, to give net current expenditure.
	The net current expenditure figures are produced on a non-Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) 17 basis.
	The real terms figures at 2007-08 prices have been calculated using the latest GDP deflators.
	Central Government grant is defined here as the sum of formula grant (Revenue Support Grant and redistributed non-domestic rates) and specific grants inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF), i.e. revenue grants paid for council's core services. It excludes grants outside AEF (i.e. where funding is not for authorities' core services, but is passed to a third party, for example, rent allowances and rebates), capital grants, funding for the local authorities' housing management responsibilities and those grant programmes (such as European funding) where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.
	The information on central Government grant for England is not available as it is not possible to separately identify the funding for fire and rescue service. This is because the formula grant is unhypothecated.
	Government grant data for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service are available from 2004-05 onwards when it became a precepting authority. Before this, it levied on the county council's budget requirement and did not receive direct grant from the Government.

South East Plan

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 18 November 2008,  Official Report, column 397W, on South East Plan, whether her Department circulated information about the South East Plan or the consultation on the South East Plan to  (a) individual residents,  (b) Guildford Borough Council,  (c) Waverley Borough Council,  (d) Surrey County Council,  (e) local newspapers and  (f) other advertising outlets.

Sadiq Khan: The draft South East Plan and earlier rounds of consultation were co-ordinated by the South East regional assembly, a pre submission consultation statement containing details of how they consulted can be found on their website at:
	http://www.southeast-ra.gov.uk/southeastplan/plan/view_plan.html
	We notified all of those who took part in earlier rounds of consultation, or took part in the Examination in Public that the consultation documents were available. This involved writing to some 8,000 addresses in the South East of England.
	A press notice was issued to local news desks and placed on the Government Office website as well as the website of the regional assembly.
	A news article setting out the process and consultation details was included in the Government Office for the South East partners newsletter and was distributed to approximately 1,100 regional partners and stakeholders.

Carbon Emissions: Housing

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many energy efficiency measures have been installed under the  (a) Carbon Emissions Reduction Target and  (b) Decent Homes programme in England in each (i) Government Office region, (ii) local authority area and (iii) constituency.

Joan Ruddock: Ofgem, who administer the carbon emissions reduction target (CERT) scheme for the Government, have said that there have been 28,136,069 measures for the period covering the first two quarters of CERT. This figure is not exhaustive as suppliers only report on the major measures such as insulation and compact fluorescent lamps at this point of the programme.
	Under CERT, Ofgem are only required to monitor energy suppliers' activity across Great Britain as a whole.
	Decent Homes is administered by Communities and Local Government.

Carbon Sequestration

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many responses he has received to his consultation on carbon capture readiness; if he will list those responses and summarise their contents; what steps he now intends to take on the matter; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: 79 responses were received to the "Towards Carbon Capture and Storage" consultation which covered carbon capture readiness for new power stations among other topics. These responses are now being carefully analysed and considered. A list of respondents, together with a summary of their comments will be included as part of the Government's response to the consultation which will be published in due course.

Departmental Manpower

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many staff in his Department did not achieve an acceptable assessment grade in their annual report from the Department by which they were previously employed in the latest reporting year for which figures are available.

Mike O'Brien: The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) came into existence on 3 October 2008 and the list of staff who will be moving to the new Department is still being finalised. It is therefore not currently possible to provide a definitive answer to this question.
	The Departments for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) will be replying separately to your question. Their answers will cover all staff who were in those Departments at the end of the 2007-08 reporting year (the latest year for which figures are available), including those staff who have now moved to DECC.

Departmental Marketing

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many staff in his Department are responsible for branding activity; and what the cost of employing such staff has been since his Department's creation.

Mike O'Brien: One member of staff deals with branding activity which occupies less than 30 per cent. of this member of staffs time. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was formed on 3 October 2008 and since then the cost of employing staff to do branding activity, based on average staff costs, has been approximately £3,000.

Departmental Microgeneration

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what progress has been made on the installation of microgeneration and renewable technologies on the Departmental estate.

Mike O'Brien: DECC has been working with DEFRA estates, who maintain 3-8 Whitehall Place, in considering the application of various technologies that would improve the energy efficiency of the building. DECC intends to implement the guidance provided in Good Practice Guide 286—Energy Performance in the Government's Civil Estate. As well as considering ways to improve the building's energy efficiency, we are also looking for opportunities to reduce our carbon, energy and water consumption through changes to the way in which we work. However the use of micro-generation and onsite renewables at this building, with its central London location, is unlikely to be viable. 100 per cent. of the electricity supplied to 3-8 Whitehall Place is however generated from renewable sources. Electricity for other DECC locations, including Atholl House and temporary accommodation in Ergon House and 1 Victoria Street, is procured under a green tariff In addition, DECC is considering the feasibility of the connection of 3-8 Whitehall Place to the Whitehall District Heating System.

Energy: Consumption

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on what evidence and analysis the final energy consumption projection for 2020 of 1740 TWh in the Energy White Paper was based.

Mike O'Brien: The projection of final energy consumption of 1,740 TWh is based on energy projections informing the Energy White Paper in May 2007 and published as a supporting document. The figure of 1,740 TWh quoted is based on the Eurostat definition of "final energy consumption" which includes energy losses by generators and defines final energy consumption on a "net calorific" rather than a "gross calorific" basis.
	The Energy White Paper projections are provided by the Department's energy model and were published alongside the Energy White Paper. The energy model is a model of the UK energy market. Energy demand is modelled based on historic relationships between energy demand and key assumptions on economic growth, population and energy prices. The projections of future consumption take account the existing policy measures. The projections based on a range of assumptions to reflect uncertainty. Details of the assumptions are included in the publication
	http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file39580.pdf.
	I am placing a copy of the information in the Libraries of the House.

Fuel Poverty

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change who he expects to conduct the street-by-street visits in fuel-poor areas under the Home Energy Saving Scheme; and what information will be  (a) collected and  (b) stored.

Joan Ruddock: The policy detail of the Community Energy Savings Programme is currently under discussion with stakeholders. The Government will undertake a formal consultation and will seek views on these issues. It would therefore be inappropriate to pre-empt the outcome of this consultation.

Home Energy Efficiency Scheme

Fraser Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people have received a Warm Front Scheme grant in  (a) Houghton and Washington East constituency,  (b) Sunderland,  (c) the North East and  (d) England in each year since its inception.

Joan Ruddock: The following table illustrates the number of households assisted in  (a) Houghton and Washington East constituency,  (b) Sunderland,  (c) the North East and  (d) England in each full year since the schemes inception
	
		
			   Houghton and Washington East  Sunderland (local authority)  North East England  England (all) 
			 2000-01 325 1,126 12,435 97,616 
			 2001-02 647 3,298 39,061 307,678 
			 2002-03 609 2,899 21,116 219,328 
			 2003-04 726 2,523 20,390 188,974 
			 2004-05 449 1,622 15,420 208,084 
			 2005-06 372 1,347 11,418 173,184 
			 2006-07 769 2,943 20,683 253,079 
			 2007-08 733 2,478 18,865 268,900

Home Energy Efficiency Scheme

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the average period under the Warm Front scheme between qualification and installation of  (a) a boiler,  (b) draught excluders and  (c) insulation was at the latest date for which figures are available.

Joan Ruddock: Under the warm front scheme the average waiting time to complete heating and insulation jobs, from the identification of required works, in the current scheme year (1 April 2008 to 25 October 2008) was 63 working days and 38 working days respectively.
	Timelines contracted with the Department are 120 working days for heating measures and 40 working days for insulation measures.

Home Energy Efficiency Scheme

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many and what proportion of successful applicants to the Warm Front scheme received a grant worth the full cost of the quote for works to their home in the latest period for which figures are available.

Joan Ruddock: Over the current scheme year 2008-09, 1 April to 25 October, 108,887 households have been assisted by the warm front scheme. 72,630 (67 per cent.) of these households had their work covered entirely by the grant allocation.

Home Energy Efficiency Scheme: Greater London

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people who have qualified for energy efficiency improvements under the Warm Front Scheme in each London borough were waiting for those improvements to be made at the latest date for which figures are available.

Joan Ruddock: The following table illustrates the number of main measures (a heating or insulation-related job) allocated by the Warm Front Scheme in its current contracted period, in each of the London boroughs, and those that have not been invoiced for, as at 16 November 2008.
	
		
			  Local authority  Main measures allocated in the current contracted period, June 2005 to November 2008  Main measures allocated but not invoiced, as at 16 November 2008 
			 Barking and Dagenham 1,474 168 
			 Barnet 1,373 218 
			 Bexley 1,993 194 
			 Brent 1,527 151 
			 Bromley 1,966 296 
			 Camden 241 44 
			 Croydon 2,223 202 
			 Ealing 2,265 285 
			 Enfield 1,865 239 
			 Greenwich 1,392 146 
			 Hackney 530 77 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 277 29 
			 Haringey 1,585 199 
			 Harrow 1,380 116 
			 Havering 2,657 323 
			 Hillingdon 1,412 115 
			 Hounslow 1,062 93 
			 Islington 204 36 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 95 17 
			 Kingston upon Thames 437 48 
			 Lambeth 1,052 171 
			 Lewisham 1,419 159 
			 Merton 1,084 116 
			 Newham 2,320 281 
			 Redbridge 2,478 248 
			 Richmond upon Thames 487 43 
			 Southwark 491 75 
			 Sutton 852 104 
			 Tower Hamlets 446 73 
			 Waltham Forest 2,015 192 
			 Wandsworth 714 110 
			 Westminster 208 26 
			  Notes: 1. As households can receive both heating and insulation measures, figures in this table are not comparable with the number of households awaiting measures. 2. The lack of invoice for a job is not necessarily related to whether the work has been physically carried out.

Nuclear Installations Inspectorate

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many staff are employed by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate  (a) on a full-time equivalent basis and  (b) on a headcount basis, broken down by grade.

Jonathan R Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
	The answer to this question is provided in the following table.
	
		
			  The number of staff employed in the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Directorate at 1 October 2008 
			  Job band( 1)  Headcount  Full-time equivalent 
			 Band 1 28 27.19 
			 Band 2 115 110.09 
			 Band 3 62 61.61 
			 Band 4 14 12.83 
			 Band 5 30 27.72 
			 Band 6 65 53.78 
			 SCS(2) 7 6.47 
			 Total 321 299.69 
			 (1 )Grade (2) Senior Civil Servants 
		
	
	These figures exclude nine agency administrative staff and four temporary secondees/contractors.

Nuclear Installations Inspectorate

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the total budget of the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate  (a) was in each of the past five financial years,  (b) is in 2008-09 and  (c) will be in each of the next five financial years.

Jonathan R Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
	The answer to this question is provided in the following table.
	
		
			  Gross expenditure of the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) Nuclear Directorate (ND) 
			  Financial year  £000 
			 2003-04 19,397 
			 2004-05 19,252 
			 2005-06 19,881 
			 2006-07 19,643 
			 2007-08 24,977 
			 2008-09 28,256 
			  Notes: 1. These are actual gross expenditure figures of the Nuclear Directorate (ND) itself for 2003-04 to 2007-08 and forecast for 2008-09. 2. ND recovers some 97 per cent. of these nuclear installations costs (and a pro rata share of the additional associated HSE overhead and central costs) as income through charges to industry under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 and Health and Safety (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2007. Since 2007-08 this has also included 100 per cent. recovery of the Office for Civil Nuclear Security costs (and a pro rata share of the additional associated HSE overhead and central costs) recovered under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, the Energy Act 2004, the extant security provisions of the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (as amended) and, in respect of nuclear material, the Import of Goods (Control) Order 1954. 3. HSE has issued indicative ND budget allocations for 2009-10 and 2010-11 (£29,973k and £30,930k respectively) but these will shortly be revised as part of HSE's annual planning process to reflect expected activity in these years. 4. HSE will set budgets for 2011-12 and beyond upon receipt of its spending review 2010 settlement in due course. 5. The figures for 2007-08 onwards include the Office for Civil Nuclear Security and the UK Safeguards Office who joined HSE from the Department for Trade and Industry on 1 April 2007 (£2.3 million and £0.3 million respectively). 6. The figures in 2007-08 and previous to this include costs of HSE Corporate Topic Groups which ND managed on behalf of HSE.

Nuclear Installations Inspectorate

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many new staff members were recruited by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate following the recruitment campaign that began in December 2007.

Jonathan R Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
	Since December 2007, HSE has run three nuclear recruitment campaigns. From the first two campaigns 15 nuclear inspectors have already taken up post, another two have accepted but have not yet taken up duty, and the final one is currently negotiating terms and conditions. Interviews of applicants from the most recent campaign are still underway: 25 applicants are under consideration.

Nuclear Installations Inspectorate

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the job titles are of posts filled by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate following the recruitment campaign that began in December 2007.

Jonathan R Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
	There are no specific job titles of posts filled by the NII all of which are classed as band 3 nuclear inspector grade.
	All nuclear inspectors have been allocated across the nuclear directorate in the following disciplines:
	Chemical engineering;
	Civil engineering;
	Fault studies;
	Mechanical engineering;
	Radiation protection;
	Structural integrity;
	Radiation waste management;
	Management for safety;
	Quality assurance.

Nuclear Installations Inspectorate

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his Department's most recent estimate is of the cost to  (a) the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and  (b) other bodies within or sponsored by his Department of the generic design assessment.

Jonathan R Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
	As of 14 November 2008, HSE Nuclear Directorate total estimated generic design assessment (GDA) cost is:
	
		
			  Year period  Actual/forecast  Cost (£) 
			 2007-08 Actual 2,265,561 
			 2008-09 Actual quarter 1 and 2 2,063,440 
			 2008-09 Forecast quarter 3 and 4 2,088,029 
			 2009-10 Forecast 11,280,000 
			 2010-11 Forecast 10,789,000 
			 2011-12 Forecast 1,753,000 
			 Total  30,239,029 
		
	
	Actual costs are based on running costs (payroll, travel and subsistence, training, staff subs etc. for inspectors and admin staff) and a proportion of external consultancy costs (programme expenditure) relevant to generic design assessment work. The costs also include a pro rata share of HSE's corporate overhead costs.
	The above costs include both safety and security of generic design assessment aspects. They do not include Environment Agency/Scottish Environment Protection Agency costs, which operate under a separate charging regime, as neither agency is sponsored by DWP.
	Forecast costs based on the same premise as above but also include:
	estimate costs of recently appointed project managers and technical support contractors who will be assisting Nuclear Directorate review GDA submissions.
	reduction from four to two requesting parties.

Renewable Energy: Electricity Generation

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will bring forward plans to support the installation of high voltage direct current cabling and infrastructure for the distribution of offshore and onshore renewable electricity generation.

Mike O'Brien: The existing onshore electricity grid network is for Alternating Current (AC), which is the most economic for transmission over shorter distances. High Voltage Direct Current (DC) grid is more costly but generally more economic over longer distances.
	The transmission companies are funded and incentivised (including incentives to innovate technically) to deliver the most economic and efficient infrastructure reinforcements for the development of the GB grid to connect the large amount of new generation, including renewables expected to connect in the coming years. Decisions on which technology to use are therefore a matter for the transmission companies.

River Severn: Tidal Power

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what account the Severn tidal power feasibility study has taken of the Government's carbon dioxide emission reduction targets.

Mike O'Brien: holding answer 20 November 2008
	The Feasibility Study will set the potential carbon savings of the long list of options for tidal power in the Severn estuary in the context of the UK's commitments under the forthcoming EU Renewable Energy Directive, the 2020 and 2050 targets for emissions reduction under the Climate Change Bill, and the carbon budgets to be set in the light of the advice of the Committee of Climate Change to be published soon.

Strategic Siting Assessment

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 3 November 2008,  Official Report, column 231W, on applying the proposed strategic siting assessment criteria, how the stakeholders invited to the engagement events were chosen; and what publicity his Department's predecessor gave to public participation in each event.

Mike O'Brien: As part of the consultation on the Strategic Siting Assessment the Department held three stakeholder events in London, Bristol and Manchester. These events were designed to inform key stakeholder groups of the consultation and to seek their views. We tried to ensure we captured a broad range of views and invited local authorities, unions, environmental groups, business representatives, companies involved in the nuclear industry, law firms and other organisations. In addition we also invited those people who had responded to previous consultations and who had asked to be kept informed of events.

Uranium: Prices

Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the price of uranium during the whole lifetime of any new nuclear power station built in the UK.

Mike O'Brien: The price of uranium is subject, as with other commodities, to market variances. We have therefore not made any assumptions about the future price of uranium.
	The Government's White Paper on Nuclear Energy, published in January 2008, acknowledged that since the price of nuclear fuel represents a much smaller part of the cost of electricity than for other technologies, even significant price increases would have only a limited effect on overall generating costs.

Warm Front Scheme

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many homes in Enfield North constituency have received home insulation through the Warm Front scheme.

Joan Ruddock: 1,076 households received an insulation measure through the Warm Front Scheme between 1 June 2000 and 28 July 2008.
	Eaga plc continue to provide regular updates of Warm Front installation figures to every MP in England delivered through individual constituency websites.